The Wizarding World of New Directions
by madsanderson
Summary: Glee AU: The characters from the popular show Glee are actually witches and wizards in this story that follows the New Directions in their time spent at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
1. Rachel Berry

_Author's Note: There are two things in this world that I love more than anything, and those things are Harry Potter and Glee (Not really, but you have to admit, it's a good idea for a crossover). I'm sure it's been done before, but I wanted to take a stab at writing the characters of Glee into the world of Harry Potter. _

_This is going to be a very experimental process, and I'm sure some of you will disagree with the houses I sorted the characters into, but I think it'll be fun if you just bear with me. _

_I'm going to approach this story from the standpoint of replacing the characters of Harry Potter with the characters from Glee, and seeing how they all interact within the Wizarding World. They will _not_ be in a glee club, because let's face it, it's probably too much._

_Despite my love for Mr. Schuester (not really at all, I hate him so much) I have come to the difficult decision to keep the Hogwarts teachers the same. _

_Also, the characters backstories make more sense in America, but Hogwarts will still be in England. They're just boarding a very very far way away now._

_That all being said, I hope you enjoy the Wizarding World of New Directions._

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_A/N edit: Recently, I've gotten a review complaining about how these introductory chapters work. To be honest, you don't need to read them to understand the story. It's kind of self-explanatory once you get to chapter 15, and you'll only need to know the characters' houses, which is something revealed in the introductory chapters. So, if you want, you can just read your favorite characters chapters, and then move onto the real story which starts in Chapter 15: Complications and Contradictions. I'll put a little intro piece in there so that you know the characters houses and friendships, just in case you choose to skip over these introductory stories. That being said, I hope you do read these little short beginnings, because they took a lot of time and dedication for me to finish. Thanks for reading!_

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_A/N edit (2): I have changed the listing to "Normal" because even though this is technically a cross-over, the only reason it's a cross-over is because it takes place in an alternate universe for the Glee characters. So it's more of an AU than a crossover, so I listed it as "Normal" so more people might get the opportunity to read it. _

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Rachel sat in the train compartment alone. She was actually used to doing a lot of things by herself. All of her life she'd been mostly alone, instead taking solace in her singing. Her dads had always told her she was so talented, that she didn't need friends. She was their little angel, headed off for Broadway and a whole new world of opportunities. She took acting, dancing, modeling, pageanting, and singing classes since the age of two, and she had never once looked back.

But Rachel knew from a young age she was different. Sometimes, when bullies would steal her things at school, they would magically reappear later. Occasionally, when people threw their lunches at her, she would stop the food midair. There was never a reasonable explanation. It just happened. And she couldn't explain it. No matter how many times teachers sent her to the principal's office when a kid who had bullied her somehow ended up on the roof, there was still nothing she could say to explain what happened.

But Rachel didn't complain. Her "gift" protected her. Kids stopped bullying her so much. She found herself having time to just be alone and practice. Anytime so new bully thought they could defeat her, they always found themselves in some remote location on school grounds. Rachel couldn't explain it to even herself, but she never questioned that she was the one making these things happen.

One particularly windy day, Rachel was walking to school. She was just 11 years old, but she'd still had a lot of hardship. On this day, the papers all flew out of her backpack. She ran after them, tripping on her shoes and falling in the mud as she tried to retrieve one particular piece of paper. She lay there, humiliated, when a hand reached down to grab hers. She looked up to see one of her fellow peers extending their arms towards hers. She grabbed the hand and mumbled "thanks". Suddenly, she felt another force push her back into the mud. The girl who had just helped her up had a friend.

"Stop it, that's mean" the girl, Katie, said to her friend. Her friend just laughed and said, "So? She's a freak" before spitting on Rachel.

Suddenly, the girl's hair caught on fire. She was screaming and Katie whipped around and yelled at Rachel, "What did you do?"

Rachel sat there, covered in mud, and cried, "I don't know! I'm sorry!" as she started to sob. The fire in the girl's hair went out, and Katie hurried her away mumbling "freak" under her breath.

Rachel was still crying 5 minutes later when a voice behind her said, "Come now, a little mud can't be all that bad". Rachel jumped out of the mud hole and saw a tall man with a long white beard standing there. He was wearing very peculiar clothing, and he had a large pointy hat that he took off after addressing Rachel. His glasses were half-moon spectacles, and the bright blue eyes behind them seemed to be staring straight into Rachel's mind.

Rachel continued to stare at the strange man until he said, "It's not polite to stare". Rachel's eyes snapped back to the man's bright blue ones as he chuckled. "It's alright, you don't need to be afraid of me". Rachel paused for a second, but he seemed to be telling the truth. She decided to trust him for the moment.

"Who are you?"

The man smiled and responded, "My name is Albus Dumbledore."

"Why are you talking to me?" Rachel asked.

Albus Dumbledore walked towards her and took out a stick from his long sleeve. Rachel eyed it nervously as it skimmed over her clothes, slowly removing the mud that was dripping on them.

Rachel was shocked. The mud just _disappeared_. Into nothingness. She looked around her trying to find any trace of it just falling onto the ground, but there was nothing. The man called Dumbledore laughed. Rachel turned her head to face his again and asked, "How did you do that?"

Dumbledore wasn't laughing anymore. He smiled at her and said, with the same tone as describing someone's shirt as blue, "I'm a wizard. I can perform magic".

That was the day that Rachel Berry's life had changed. Dumbledore had taken her home that same day, assuring her that missing school would not be a big deal, and explained to her two dads that she was different, _special_. After hearing it all her life, Rachel hadn't been too surprised, just surprised that it was magic rather than singing.

That same year, she had begun attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was now in her sixth year and every year, she started sitting alone in her compartment.

Her friends weren't the type to be tactful. Every year, they boarded at the exact same time. Exactly three minutes before the train left the station. It had become Rachel's duty to save them a compartment so they had somewhere to sit when they arrived late.

But Rachel didn't _really_ mind. When she went to Hogwarts, for the first time in her life, she'd had friends. And more than singing, more than magic, that was what she loved the most. At Hogwarts, for the first time ever, she wasn't alone.

In her sixth year, she still had the same group of friends since first year, and the same boyfriend since fifth. It didn't seem like that long of a time, but it was still special to Rachel, and her friends meant more than the world to her. Even sitting alone, she knew how much they cared about her and how they would do anything for her.

Despite liking being alone so much as a kid, Rachel didn't know what she'd do without them.

Rachel shifted uncomfortably in her seat and checked her watch. Five minutes left. It was almost time. She adjusted her red and yellow tie, waiting for her friends to board the train.


	2. Noah Puckerman

_Author's Note: I know these chapters are a lot shorter than some of the others in my different stories, but I like this different kind of writing styles. After you get the back stories for each character, the chapters will become longer, so just give me some time to introduce you to these characters through my eyes. _

_I hope you like hearing about Puck._

Noah Puckerman had always been a badass. His parents had expected it from him. Well, mostly his mom. She had left his dad when he was only 4 years old. Turns out, he wasn't as pure-blooded as he claimed to be. Noah had grown up his entire life under the scorn of his mother, being pressured to be better, solely because he was one-fourth muggle. It wasn't his fault his dad was a lying prick. But still, Noah had always had something to prove.

When he was five, his mother remarried a rich pure-blooded man who went on to become the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Together they had a daughter who was, obviously, pure-blooded. And Noah was rejected for it. He grew up hearing every day how he could never be as good as her, how he could never be enough. He would never be a _true _wizard. He was the scum on the bottom of his mother and step-father's shoe, and sometimes, Noah had to wonder why his mother had even bothered to keep him when she left his dad. She had never treated him with any respect and Noah was sick and tired of it.

So he started to rebel. When he was eight years old, he beat up his first kid. He left the kid on the playground with a fat lip and a black eye, and he came home to tell his mother, expecting her to shout and yell at him, and tell him to control his temper like his _sister_ despite the fact she was only three.

But instead she just asked him if the kid was a muggle. Noah didn't really know, so he said yes. She hugged him and said she'd never been more proud. She made him his favorite food for dinner, and told his stepfather when he got home, gushing over Noah. He had clapped Noah on the shoulder and said "good job, son", the first time he had even acknowledged any relation to Noah.

So from that day forth, Noah had become Puck, the town's residential badass. To the kids anyway. Everytime he walked on the playground, the atmosphere became tense. Kids jumped off of the swings asking him if he wanted a try. No matter how nice they were to him, Puck still made sure he beat up at least one muggle a week, so his mom would tell him how proud she was and make him his favorite meal.

After awhile Puck noticed that sometimes, he could beat up the kids without ever laying a finger on them. His mother gushed on how proud she was, he boy had magic in him. Puck just found more and more creative ways of beating up kids without ever even touching them or getting caught.

By a certain point, he didn't even do it because it garnered his mother's approval. He did it because it felt, well, it felt _good_. To have another kid beg for his life as you just laughed and stole his lunch money had a certain charm to it. And Puck fed off of that charm.

The more kids he beat up, the stronger he felt himself getting, until one day, when he was eleven, he suspended a kid into the air using only his mind. Puck stood there, smirking, as the kids screamed questions at him like how are you doing that and please let me down. Puck just laughed.

But at that moment, a policeman had walked around the corner and yelled out at him.

Puck had never run that fast before. He made it through the front door of his home and put his back against it, laughing out loud. He heard his mother in the kitchen say there was mail for him.

Puck grabbed the letter off the counter and saw the Hogwarts seal.

_Finally_.

Puck ripped open the envelope and read the words saying he'd been accepted to Hogwarts. It wasn't a surprise considering he'd shown an affinity for magic from a very young age and both of his parents had magic blood in them, but still. It was good to know he wouldn't be a loser all his life.

His mother took him to Diagon Alley the next day where he instantly bought the fastest broom there was on the market. He already knew all about Quidditch, and he was just as good at it as he was at football. Because of his small frame, he was a great seeker.

His first time on Platform 9 ¾, he'd only been slightly nervous. Puck wasn't one to get scared. Besides, his nerves had simply disappeared the second another first-year had run up to him, rambling about how his parents were muggles and he was excited to go here, and he'd hoped they could be friends.

Puck let out a small smirk and replied, "No way mudblood". No one had ever doubted him since then, and he'd been the school's undebated number one troublemaker since.

That was seven years ago, and today Puck walked onto Platform 9 ¾, surveying the area for what he knew would be one of the last times. This was _his_ year. And though it would also be his last at Hogwarts, but Puck didn't mind. He had bigger and better things to move onto.

He'd grown up since his first year. He was a lot bigger and a lot taller.

And a lot stronger.

He saw some small kids, first or second years no doubt, running around the station. He laughed. There'd be time to bully the new kids later.

Puck smiled as two hands covered his eyes. "Guess who loser?" he heard a voice say before he pulled the hands off and turned around to see a girl with wavy blonde hair. He smirked at her and said, "Should've known" as she pulled a little seductively on his black and green scarf.


	3. Brittany Pierce

_Author's Note: Hope you liked Chapters 1 and 2… I have to warn you, I will probably never update this fast again. But still, I hope you enjoy the back story to Brittany._

Brittany hated hearing her parents arguing. She never really knew what it was about, but she couldn't help but hear her name slip into the conversation every once in awhile. She hated that her parents argued about her. She never really knew why they did, but literally every conversation they had, ended with them yelling about one thing or another.

One day, her parents sat her down and said they were getting a divorce. Brittany was sad, but not altogether surprised. But she still felt so helpless. She wanted to bring them back together and fix whatever had destroyed their marriage. But she couldn't. She ran up to her room and shut her door, laying down on her bed to cry.

Her dad was the one that came up the stairs and knocked lightly on her door. He was always the one that comforted her when she got emotional like this. "Brit? Let me in" but Brittany always refused. Her room was her safe haven. Away from all the pain, the yelling, the arguments that had taken place over the years. Despite her father's continued persistence, she refused to open the door.

He went back downstairs and Brittany knew he was getting the key to the door. She buried her face into her pillow, tears streaming down her cheeks. She hated disappointing them, but sometimes it was too much to process. She didn't want them to divorce, she just wanted to be a family forever and ever. Was that too much to ask?

Her dad was already back up the stairs with the key, but for some reason, it wouldn't turn to lock. He yelled downstairs to Brittany's mother, and Brittany could hear her footsteps on the stairs as she joined her husband at Brittany's door. She heard her mother whisper something that sounded like alohomora, and the door clicked unlocked.

Her dad asked her mom, "So she locked it with magic again?" and that's when Brittany finally understood.

After the divorce, Brittany went to live with her father. Her parents had sat her down and explained to her everything you could know about magic.

Brittany felt kind of bad that her dad wasn't a wizard, so she inevitably decided to go live with him. Besides, he never eyed her funny when she got a bad grade on a test like her mom did. Her dad just understood her better.

Brittany still spent weekends with her mom as she told her various things about what it would be like to grow up and be a witch. It all kind of scared Brittany. It seemed like such a big other world, and she didn't know how well she'd get all of the magic stuff on top of all the other school stuff she had learned.

Especially when she heard the stuff about spells. You had to memorize all these different words that did different things, and sometimes, Brittany could barely even remember her times tables. No, she could never remember them.

But still, Brittany was happy growing up, more so with her dad. He took her to the park once a week to feed the ducks with her as they watched the kites go across the sky. He always took her to get ice cream afterwards and they had the best times trying to get the craziest flavor combinations.

Her dad was the one that didn't scold her for failing the occasional test or for being home late after missing the bus. He never really scolded her for anything. And Brittany liked that.

But as Brittany reached the age of 11, her mother insisted on seeing her more. She wanted to prepare Brittany for attending Hogwarts, telling her father that Brittany was "slow" and needed extra preparation. Her mother's words hurt her, and she hated hearing that she wasn't "smart" enough to be a witch yet.

The day she received her letter she was beyond ecstatic. No matter what her mom said, she _was_ good enough. She opted to have her father take her to Diagon Alley instead. He helped her buy all of the correct books and went and got her measured for her robes. He even bought Brittany her first wand. Cherry oak and unicorn hair. Brittany was ecstatic to hear that, yes, unicorns were real. Brittany smiled at the fact that, for the rest of her life, she would always have a piece of unicorn on her.

Her father took her to the train station for the first time and kissed her on both cheeks and told her, "Brittany, I don't care what anyone else says, you'll always be my little angel".

And Brittany never forgot it.

Today, as she stepped onto Platform 9 ¾ she was really happy. Despite loving her dad, she loved going to Hogwarts more than staying at home. It prevented her from ever having to see her mother except for one day out of every break, which wasn't too bad. It was already her sixth year, and she heard her dad comment on how much she'd grown.

Brittany smiled at him and kissed him goodbye on the cheek. "I'll load your suitcase okay? You go find your friends" Brittany thanked him and grabbed her stuffed animal off the top of her luggage.

She skipped down the platform, waving hello to her friends as she passed by them. She didn't have _that_ many friends at Hogwarts, but everybody liked Brittany. Every since day one she had been the carefree and happy one, never a frown or a bad word.

Unlike her friend. Brittany walked up to the latina, beaming. "Look what I put on him" Brittany exclaimed him, waving her stuffed badger in front of her friend's face, now wearing her black and yellow tie.


	4. Kurt Hummel

_Author's Note: If you're still reading, thanks for sticking with the story, I really appreciate it. I hope you like all of the characters so far. I'll be picking which story I write next by reviews and suggestions, so if you have a specific character you want to hear from, I'd speak up now. _

_That said, say hello to Kurt Hummel, wizard extraordinaire._

Kurt winced as Tommy stepped on his scarf. It was his favorite Hermès scarf, and this boy was just stepping all over it. Kurt had always been prone to bullies. He started wearing Prada at the age of five, and by seven he already knew he was gay. As a young kid, this doesn't exactly make you immune to the torment of others.

As Tommy and his friends walked away, Kurt picked up the scarf, already knowing it was ruined. He sighed slowly. At the young age of eight he still understood the importance of a good article of clothing. And clearly Tommy didn't. Kurt rolled his eyes and put the scarf into his backpack and started walking back towards the bus.

On the way home, Kurt watched as the trees passed by him in a steady blur of autumn colors, thinking about which magazine he would read when he got home. Well, first he would try and save what was left of the scarf. Hermès didn't really do well with being stomped on, but Kurt felt sure he could do something.

Kurt walked through the door to his house and tiptoed quietly past his dad, who was asleep on the couch with "The Deadliest Catch" playing on the TV.

Burt Hummel hadn't been right since Kurt's mom had died. Before she had, he utilized his magic to the fullest extent, always in a competition to see who could cook the better meal. Kurt's mom usually won, and Burt was forced to use his magic around the house, repairing broken tables, fixing the racks in Kurt's closet for the thousandth time, making the car run again. Despite being a wizard family, both of Kurt' parents were muggle-borns, and they lived a generally muggle lifestyle. Kurt still went to school and his parents still had muggle jobs.

But they had been a family. Until the death. Burt refused to lift his wand out of its case anymore, and it broke Kurt's heart. He too missed his mom, but his dad sort of fell apart for awhile. Kurt still went to school every day, but he no longer had an afternoon snack sitting on the counter for him, and they no longer had family night on Thursdays.

That had been two years ago. And Burt Hummel still hadn't left the couch. Even at eight years old, Kurt was tired of taking care of himself. He was tired of looking after his father when his dad never moved an inch to help Kurt clean up from dinner.

Kurt went into the living room and sat on the table across from his dad. "Dad?"

Burt Hummel woke up with a start and said, "Yeah. What is it Kurt?"

Despite being young, Kurt still had an unbelievable flare for the dramatic. He started crying hoping it would finally wake his dad up, "Will you cook dinner tonight?"

Kurt hadn't felt his dad hug him in almost two years, and the sensation felt amazing. His dad smiled at him and said, "Of course" as he reached a hand up to tousle his hair. Kurt didn't really know what changed in Burt that day or if he had even caused that change, but from then on out, they had dinner together every night. Burt always tried to interpret different fashion brands, and Kurt tried not to get aggravated _every_ time his dad asked him who Alexander McQueen was. He learned to just roll his eyes and laugh as his dad scolded him.

For the first time in awhile, they were a family.

Kurt still never forgot his mother. He had loved her very much, and he and his father still visited her grave once a week. The day Kurt's Hogwarts letter arrived Kurt went to the graveyard by himself and laid it on his mother's grave promising her he would do his best for her.

As he and his father navigated Diagon Alley, Kurt was not happy to hear that designer labels did not make the robes that were found here, and even more upset that he didn't get to design his own wand. But still, Kurt was inspired by the magic in the air, quite literally. Every window offered a new surprise and a new promise for his new life. Never would he throw away another scarf because it was dirty, he could just fix it. It truly was magical.

Despite Kurt's protests, Burt bought him a broom, saying it might come in handy.

Six year later, Kurt was glad he had. He was hands-down the best seeker in the school. It was likely due to his small build and uncanny ability to outmaneuver any field formation, but Kurt just attributed that to his numerous years studying fashion and the way models moved. No one really got that connection.

Walking onto Platform 9 ¾, Kurt was smiling. Something about Hogwarts just always seemed to get his juices pumping. Burt was saying something about being careful and not getting into any trouble, and Kurt pretended to listen for the sake of Burt's feelings.

His dad put a hand on his shoulder and Kurt turned around to look at him. "You be careful Kurt, alright? I don't want to hear about you getting in trouble again." Kurt rolled his eyes. His dad hadn't ever believed that Kurt snuck out _only_ to try and get back the scarf that Peeves had stolen. It wasn't his fault that the poltergeist was everywhere all the time. Filch hadn't listened to his explanation, so it didn't make sense that his dad would either.

Kurt smiled at him and just said, "Okay dad" and hugged him goodbye. Kurt had just spotted his diva pal across the platform, and he made his way over to her.

He tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around and smiled.

"Well well well, six years later and blue is still a fabulous color on you" she smiled as she looked at his matching scarf and tie.


	5. Artie Abrams

_Author's Note: Thanks again to everybody who's been reading this story, it definitely means a lot. And per request of _.World, _the next character is Artie Abrams. I hope you enjoy, and continue to read._

_[edit] I literally wrote this more than 2 weeks ago, but FanFiction hasn't been working on this story, so I am really really sorry about the delay. To make up for it, I'll try and post a few more chapters tonight as well._

After the car accident, Artie hadn't moved from his hospital bed. It wasn't out of depression or a sudden loss of inspiration to do anything, it was because he had lost all ability to use his legs. His mother had said repeatedly how sorry she was and how she wished she was in his place, but at 8 years old, Artie wasn't really ready to forgive her. He would never be able to walk again. The wheelchair beside his bed was a constant reminder of that. He didn't want to leave his bed because that would make it official. He would never walk again. And there was nothing he could do.

Artie spent over 5 months in the hospital for repeat surgeries and physical therapy. Every day he wished that somehow, someway, he would be able to walk again. He researched and studied and sought out every possibility for him to start walking, but eventually, he'd given up.

It wasn't until Artie was about 10 years old that he began to hope again. Sitting in his bed, he couldn't reach the TV remote. His mom had gone down to the cafeteria and all he wanted was to just watch some TV. He could never catch a break. He pulled himself up and tried to lean over to the bedside table. But his arms wouldn't reach. Artie threw himself back onto the bed in frustration. It would be so much easier if he could just stand up and walk over and pick it up. Artie laid there and glared at the ceiling, his eyes brimming with tears. He was angry and upset and it just wasn't fair.

But then, Artie heard a scraping sound. Almost as if something was moving across the table. Artie turned his head over and looked at the table. The remote was sliding slowly towards him. Artie lifted his arm and the remote flew into his outstretched hand. Artie laughed and kept on laughing. He extended his hand towards other objects around the room and kept on laughing as a cup of water, pen, and his glasses all flew into his hand as he moved his arm towards each object.

His mother walked into the room just as his wheelchair was rolling towards him on its own, and she dropped her lunch on the ground. "Artie! How are you doing that?". Artie just smiled at her and said, "I don't know".

On his eleventh birthday he had received a visit from the headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but he wasn't all too surprised. In addition to offering Artie a place at the school, Albus Dumbledore had talked to his mother about a place called St. Mungo's where they might be able to treat Artie. He had been confused at first because he wasn't sick. But Dumbledore told him that they could make him walk.

Less than a week later Artie and his mom were walking into St. Mungo's and Artie was ecstatic. For the first time in years, he was going to be able to walk. That day at the hospital was the single greatest memory of his life. His "surgery" had taken less than an hour and it didn't require any cutting at all. Just some spells and a few potions.

But Artie still hadn't gotten the courage to get out of bed. He was afraid it hadn't worked. His mother comforted him and told him to just try, but still. He waited until all the healers had left and his mom had dashed out for a coffee break before he threw his legs over the side of the bed. He pushed himself off and landed on his feet and stood there for a second. When he took his first step, his legs felt a little weak, and he tripped. But he managed to not fall on his face. Alright Artie, just one step at a time.

Artie spent the next few months before he boarded the Hogwarts Express walking everywhere. He walked to the store to the mall sometimes just to the end of the street. Artie felt like he was finally _living_. His mom started smiling again, and his dad finally felt like spending time with him, teaching him to play baseball. They sold their handicapped van and got rid of the ramp leading to the second floor and replaced it with stairs.

And Artie was happy.

He walked onto the platform of 9 ¾ feeling like every other first year, full of promise and excitement. No one was staring at him with pity, and no one offered to help him with his luggage. And it felt amazing.

Five years later, Artie still walked onto the platform with the same amount of happiness and excitement. Hogwarts had become like a second home to him: His friends and his schoolwork were both things that he had become fully invested in. He was one of the smartest in their year, and he was often asked why he wasn't in Ravenclaw. Artie didn't really know, but he loved his house. He spent a lot of his time with his roommates, especially the very dopey blond guy.

At Hogwarts, no one thought of him as the guy who used to be in a wheelchair. He had become someone else. And it was a person he liked.

Artie felt someone yank on his yellow tie, and he turned around to see an Asian girl with long black hair. "Hello, wheels, how was your summer?"

He laughed at the nickname that only his best friend would refuse to shake.


	6. Finn Hudson

_Author's Note: Thank you all for being patient with me in writing these. I know I haven't updated in a few weeks, but the FanFiction site was down (or just not working on my story) and I really had nothing I could do about it. But it's fixed now! So here we go again._

_Here comes the story of the frankenteen Finn Hudson._

Finn Hudson had never known his father. From a very young age, he'd heard stories of his courage and his unflinching desire to help his country. He'd heard about his undeniable smile and how he could make anyone laugh, no matter their mood. He'd also heard about how he was looking more and more like him every day, and how maybe, one day, he too could play football like his dad. He'd heard about how strong his dad was, how brave, how loving, and how generous he was. But Finn Hudson had never known his father.

While Finn's mom, Carole, was still pregnant with him, his father went off to war. Another day another war. He never came home over the course of the next few years, but his dad was normally just stationed at a operating base, outside of the conflict. But one unlucky time, he was sent into the line of fire. His dad lost his life trying to save a group of civilians from a suicide bomber. The civilians got away. But Finn's dad never made it home.

They sent a medal to the house along with a couple of officers to tell Finn's mom the news. Finn was only three years old. He'd still never met his dad.

Carole cried for weeks after receiving the news, and all Finn could do was sit around. By the time he turned seven, his mom was still crying. She tried to hide it from him and go in another room, but Finn always noticed. As he grew older, he looked more and more like his dad. And as he grew older, his mom appeared to miss him more and more.

Finn took up to drums to try and cheer her up. He'd play the beats to her favorite songs and tell her to dance to the music. For the first time in a long time, she was smiling.

And they lived a couple of years like that. Carole started crying less and hugging Finn more, and they got by.

But barely.

A social worker started visiting the house, telling Carole about all the payments that needed to be made. Carole always pleaded for more time, and because she was a single mother, she always got it.

But it still wasn't enough.

Finn found the eviction notice on the table when he was nine. The 48 hour warning wasn't comforting either. Finn could hear his mom crying in the kitchen, and he knew that he had to do something about it.

Even as a young kid, Finn still knew what an ATM was. He had seen his mother obtain money from it on more than one occasion, and Finn knew he could figure out a way to get money from it too.

Finn punched the cool metal as hard as he could. Well, that didn't work. He clenched his throbbing hand with his uninjured one and tried to rub away the pain. He needed money, quick, and he didn't know what to do.

It _was_ dumb to punch the ATM, but Finn was desperate. He didn't want to leave his home, and he just wanted his mom to stop crying.

Finn gave the ATM one last kick as he started to walk away.

And that's when he heard the _bing!_ from the machine.

Finn turned around and walked back towards the machine, very warily. It was still beeping and, as he got closer, he could see the screen flashing repeatedly.

The ATM was spitting out money. Finn's mouth was agape as the machine spit out 20s all over the ground.

Finn had no idea what was happening, but he started to gather up the money. His eyes quickly darted around, making sure that no one could see him. They needed this money, and there it was. It couldn't be that bad could it? It felt a little bit like fate.

Finn had gathered up all of the money, and even he could tell it was a lot. He didn't really care how it got there and he wasn't really thinking about the consequences. It was just a really big amount of money.

Finn jumped as he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and dropped the money at the sight of a very tall man with a long white beard.

"I'm not entirely sure that all belongs to you Mr. Hudson" the man said with a knowing smile.

"Yes sir, I mean, no. I mean, sorry." Finn looked down at his feet. "It's not mine, sorry"

The man smiled and put his hand on Finn's shoulder.

"My name is Albus Dumbledore. And I think we need to go have a talk with your mother".

As it turned out, Finn Hudson had managed to force the machine to give him the money with magic. He hadn't really meant for that to happen, but according to Dumbledore, that's just how things happened. A wizard always presents their magic at a young age, and since Carole was, a _muggle_ as Dumbledore said, Dumbledore had to come explain things to them.

Apparently Finn's dad was actually a wizard as well. He had intended to tell them, but he had been killed before he had the chance.

So Finn and his dad really did have something in common.

Finn hadn't been allowed to keep the money, but after discovering he was a wizard, it didn't matter all that much to him. The first time he got on Platform 9 ¾, Finn felt at home. All of the kids bustling about made him feel like he had finally found a sense of place.

His mom wouldn't stop crying when he boarded the train, and while he felt bad about leaving her, he couldn't wait for the endless opportunities.

5 years later, Finn still had that momentous feeling of potential. Hogwarts always gave him a sense of endless wonder.

Finn checked a couple of compartments that were full before moving down the train. He knew his girlfriend was there already, but for some reason, she always managed to pick the _one _compartment that he was sure to pick last.

Still, as he finally reached her compartment door, he couldn't resist the smile creeping onto his lips. She always had the most perfect smile, and he couldn't help but laugh at her perfectly knotted red and yellow tie.

Finn opened the door and sat down next to the petite occupant and put his arm around her.

"It's good to see you again Rachel" he whispered into her ear before pulling her in for a hug and kissing her on the forehead.


	7. Blaine Anderson

_Author's Note: To everyone still reading, I really _do_ have to thank you. I'm having a blast updating this story, and I have to say, I think it's going to be awesome. This next chapter has been a really hard chapter to write, mostly because I _love_ this character. Like really really love this character. So please ignore the obvious favoritism I show towards him and I hope it doesn't show through._

_As a side note, this character isn't necessarily a large part of the story in the beginning, but I promise he will be eventually._

_And also, this chapter will be a little different. It _will_ have a little back story, but it'll mostly be about his time at Hogwarts and how he's changed since getting there._

_That all being said. Here's Blaine Anderson._

Blaine Anderson had always known who he was. He was never ashamed and he never felt the need to hide. He was out and proud, and his town, that was a big deal. Especially to his father.

Blaine had never gotten along with his dad. He had come out to his parents at a relatively young age, and his mother had just hugged him and said, "I know". His father had left the room.

And that's how things had stayed growing up. Blaine never went to public school because of his ability to display magic from as young as four and so Blaine spent most of his time at home. With _both_ of his parents.

And he hated it. Everyday his dad signed him up for some new sport or encouraged him to get into the garage and help him rebuild the car. Blaine did it all without complaint, but inside, Blaine was sad and disappointed and just plain pissed off. He needed someone to support him, and Blaine didn't think he had anyone.

Blaine's parents were happy when he received his Hogwarts letter. And Blaine was happy too, but not for the same reasons. They were happy he would be exposed to a "normal" environment, and Blaine was happy that he was getting out of the house.

His first day on Platform 9 ¾ was both terrifying and exhilarating. There were so many people on the platform running about, into each other, away from their parents and onto the train. Blaine knew he could hide away here. He'd been hiding himself for a long time. He was used to it.

In his first year, Blaine was the top of his class. It was odd for a Ravenclaw to not have the top marks, but Blaine wore his red and yellow with pride. He was on the Quidditch team as one of the first seekers to be a first year since Harry Potter had been at the school. He wrote his parents every week about his accomplishments, and for awhile, he fit in.

Until his first Hogsmeade visit. In his third year, it happened to be February. February 14th. He got offers from several different girls asking to meet him at Madam Puddifoot's for tea and then hang around. Blaine didn't mind hanging out. But he knew they all liked him in a way he couldn't reciprocate. And he decided it was time that he officially came out to his school friends.

And for the first time in his life, no one cared. Not in the sense that they didn't care about Blaine, but that they didn't care if he was gay or not. He was still smart and athletic and all of the guys begged him for advice about how to get the girls. Then again, the girls were disappointed finding out Blaine wasn't on their team, but they all shrugged it off. Blaine was still everybody's favorite.

There was still a steady amount of bullying. Slytherin would find anything to put a chink in your armor, and before _every_ Quidditch game, they gave him shit and called him cruel names. Until one day in fourth year.

Blaine was walking through the courtyard when he felt a strong shove on his back. He hit the ground, hard, and heard a laugh.

Noah Puckerman was in fifth year, and yeah, he was a big bully. He was the seeker for Slytherin, Blaine's main rival, but he was a year older and a hell of a lot bigger. Blaine didn't really stand a chance.

"So. _Lady boy_. What's homo-explosion up to today?" Puck spat at him with his usual smirk.

Blaine gathered up his books and tried to wipe some of the mud off. "Just going to class Puck"

Puck laughed and pushed Blaine back into the ground. Blaine hated the taste of mud in his mouth, and he felt a little humiliated lying there.

"What do you want Puck?"

Puck laughed and squatted down next to Blaine. "You know about our game on Saturday?"

Blaine nodded.

"I'm gonna need you to lose that"

"You know I don't determine the outcome of the game Puck"

Blaine was nervous now. Of course Puck wanted him to throw the game. Slytherin hadn't won once since Blaine had joined the Gryffindor team, and Puck wasn't a guy to accept that lightly.

"Sure, _Anderson_. But I'm sure that they'll have a harder time of winning if you can't catch the snitch"

That was true. Blaine didn't want to admit it. He wouldn't throw the game. But Puck was definitely fully capable of landing him in the hospital in order to prevent him from playing.

And Blaine didn't really want a broken arm.

"So what's it gonna be Anderson?"

Puck's hand was already curling into a fist at his side, and Blaine was bracing himself for the first blow.

"Hey! Puckerman! Why don't you find someone else to pick on?"

Kurt Hummel wasn't generally known around the school for being a very big or strong guy, but Finn Hudson definitely was. So when Kurt yelled at Puck with Finn by his side, it was very convincing.

Puck smirked at Kurt and Finn and let go of Blaine's collar.

"Alright Anderson. Get your boyfriends to stick up for you. This isn't over"

Blaine gathered up his books again and put them in his bag as Kurt extended a hand towards him.

"Hi, I'm Kurt."

Blaine smiled.

And still, 2 years later, Blaine hadn't stopped thinking about that day. Blaine was good friends with Finn since they were both in Gryffindor, but he didn't see Kurt all that often. Every so often they would pass by each other in the corridor or be in a class together, but other than that, Blaine was forced to admire him from a distance.

Blaine felt a hand clap on his shoulder right before he stepped on the train. A blonde guy with a black and yellow scarf and a goofy smile was staring at him.

"So, Anderson, ready for another year?"

Blaine smiled at his friend and replied with, "Yeah. Let's do this."


	8. Mike Chang

_Author's Note: I don't really have much to say here right now, but I'd just like to thank all of you for reading, and I love hearing your suggestions/guesses for what's going to happen next! If you have any suggestions or requests for plots or anything, I'd love to hear them and, yes, I will take them into serious consideration. So please, any comments you have, don't hesitate to make them._

_All that said, thanks once again. There are only six more introduction stories, and then we start the real fun!_

_So, I would like to introduce you to Mike Chang. _

It was hard growing up in a family of overachievers. People who came out of Hogwarts that were in Ravenclaw tended to be that way. Mr. Chang held a very prestigious position at the Gringotts corporate offices and Mrs. Chang was the Head Healer at St. Mungo's. Despite the fact that both of Mike's parents were Muggle-borns, they were both the top of their respective grades. Both had been prefects and Mr. Chang was Head Boy two years before Mrs. Chang held the title of Head Girl. They were both players on their house's Quidditch team. Mr. Chang was a keeper, and Mrs. Chang was a chaser.

They had both been at Hogwarts when the Triwizard Tournament was happening. Mr. Chang was a seventh year, and she was a fifth year. They went to the Yule Ball together and started dating from there.

Even after Mr. Chang left Hogwarts, he wrote his girlfriend every day. They fell in love from afar. By the time she graduated, Mr. Chang already had a powerful job and was doing fairly well, so she was free to pursue her dream career as a Healer.

And they started their life.

Right after the downfall of Voldemort, the Changs had their first baby. And they loved Mike with all of their heart. They hired one of the best housekeepers and nanny, and had a tutor teaching him how to play violin and the piano very early.

At age six when Mike first displayed signs of being a wizard, they hired a tutor to teach him all of the spells he could possibly learn and the wand motions, despite the fact that he didn't have a wand.

By the age of 9, Mike was miserable. He'd gone through most of his life being tutored and schooled before he even reached the age at which wizards go to school. He knew that muggles, or wizards raised as muggles such as his parents, often went to school from age 5. But this was much harder. He worked straight 8-10 hours with his studies and musical lessons, and at age 9, he could pass the written exam of almost any O.W.L. And his parents still wanted more.

He knew that they hadn't had the opportunities he was being given. But Mike didn't want to be the greatest wizard or pianist or violinist of his time. Mike loved dancing.

Whenever his tutor headed home for the day, Mike had about an hour before his parents would get back from work. He spent that time going to the nearest park or square and watching the performers there. He learned the moves that they made, and practiced alongside them. The dancers welcomed him, people were much more willing to donate money to kids.

And Mike spent more than two years of his life like that. Every day he spent practicing and learning and getting better. And he was _good_. People started coming from around the entire city to see him dance. Every day there was a large crowd throwing money at him and asking for autographs. After that, it was statewide. Mike always donated all of the money to the dancers who taught him from the beginning, despite the fact that he was much much better than them by now.

But it didn't last forever. The story of the young dancer made newspaper headlines. Lots of newspaper headlines.

Mike didn't know until his tutor left one day. Mike grabbed his converse and his hoodie, gearing up for another performance. He turned to open the front door when he saw his dad standing there with his briefcase.

"Dad? What're you doing here?"

His dad stared at him hard and set down his case without looking away from Mike.

"Where're you going?" he asked Mike without answering the question he had been asked.

"Um. You know… out."

"Shouldn't you be practicing?"

Mike knew he was in trouble. He was supposed to be spending that hour getting more practice and more studying in, without his tutor.

His fears were confirmed when his dad slowly held up a newspaper with the title "Young Boy Wonder Dances Into the Hearts of Thousands"

Mike swallowed and stared at the ground.

"You are to _never_ go there again" his dad said simply before walking towards the kitchen.

And Mike was devastated.

There were questions about where the dancing talent had gone for a few days after he stopped showing up. But those died away. And Mike did to. He studied all the time and became a piano savant. And he hated it. He just hated it.

The letter from Hogwarts came the day of his eleventh birthday. His parents were _so _proud. And Mike was finally leaving. _Finally_.

Even in his sixth year, Mike loved the Hogwarts Express. The sight of it reminded him that he was going home. To the place where he was allowed to love dancing and do it on a regular basis. Despite all the magic in the air, Mike was surprised at just how many people were interested in dancing. And the Hogwarts dance team was _good_. Mike had started the team, and they competed all across the country with other teams, muggle and magical.

And they won them all with Mike on their team.

But dancing wasn't the only pride and joy of his life anymore. He spied his friend Artie talking to a girl with a long black hair. He walked up to both of them and put an arm around the girl and leaned his head down to kiss her cheek.

"I missed you babe" he said nuzzling his face into her blue and black scarf that matched his perfectly.


	9. Quinn Fabray

_Author's Note: You probably get tired of me thanking you all the time for reading this fic, but really, it means a lot. I wouldn't keep writing if I didn't think you guys were enjoying it, so thank you. _

_All comments/suggestions/recommendations are welcome, and I promise to take all of your thoughts into consideration. _

_So starting now, all of the characters are starting to overlap and interact, so the story is really starting to come together. Finn and Rachel, Mike and Tina, Blaine and Kurt, Brittany and Santana, they've all had their interactions._

_In this chapter, I'll try to get a little more into the relationship side of the character's interactions. Some of them have spoken briefly, but I'm going to look more into how they got where they are today._

_With that being said, I'm going to be as vague as possible about the relationships this girl has._

Head bitch in charge. That was a good description. Even at five years old, the words weren't surprising to Quinn Fabray. Her little friends had assigned the nickname to her, and it was true. She _owned _them. They would do anything to please her, to get her to love them.

Birthday presents? They didn't keep them if she wanted them. Favorite toy? Hers now. Pretty piece of jewelry? It was prettier on Quinn.

But these girls didn't really interest her. Their trinkets and toys were mere prizes to prove her worth. She liked feeling powerful.

Which is why she was thrilled the day she discovered magic. She'd read it in books and seen it in movies, but magic was _real_.

Quinn discovered it when she was at school one day. There was a boy in her class that had a crush on her. And boys at that age, well, they like to pick on pretty girls like Quinn. She was just sitting on the playground when he threw a handful of mud at her. It hit her white dress and splattered all over it, making her look as if she'd fallen down. Her friends beside her gasped and started yelling at the boy, but Quinn rubbed it furiously to try and get it out. This was her _special_ white dress. And it _couldn't_, just couldn't get dirty.

And then suddenly it wasn't. Quinn blocked out the sounds of the girls berating the boy as she saw her hand literally just wipe away the mud on her dress.

And the dress was impeccably clean. No mud at all.

Like magic.

And from then on, no one owned Quinn. No one could win her over and no one could convince her to be their friend. She was the queen. And everyone else was just extra.

She went through all of elementary school and middle school as the girl you just knew to not mess with. She had bad-ass written all over her and no one doubted her. At the youngest age that cheerleading was offered, Quinn was on the team. And she made captain of every squad she was on.

She may have been younger than some of the others, but she had a way of making people do what she wanted, no matter how old they were.

She really did have a way to make people do what she wanted. She always knew it had something to do with her being able to do magic. It just wasn't natural how easily people listened to her. But Quinn liked it. She liked being in charge. It was the only thing that could make her happy.

At age 11, she received a letter from a school that said she was a witch. She wasn't surprised, but her parents were. They threw away the letter as a joke.

Until Professor McGonagall showed up on their doorstep. Her parents didn't believe it at first. That their perfect little girl could perform magic. But Quinn always believed it. She never had a doubt in her mind.

And Hogwarts wasn't much different for Quinn. Sure, now everyone she was around could perform magic. But not the kind of magic Quinn could perform. Quinn was a natural charmer. She could bend anyone to her will and make anyone believe they were important. And in her first year at Hogwarts, she was already popular. If that was even the word for it. Never before had someone been so well loved among all four houses and by all of the professors.

But that was Quinn. People never knew if they should love her or hate her. So they all loved her.

By Quinn's second year, everyone knew her name, even the sixth and seventh years. Everybody knew Quinn Fabray. Everybody.

Especially one particular person.

Noah Puckerman was a third year seeker for Slytherin. And he was this school's head bad ass. Quinn may have been the bitch in charge, but Puck? He was the sole man in charge.

And Quinn was no exception to his rule.

"Oh crap, I'm sorry!" Puck said apologetically as his foot tripped the relatively shorter blond.

Quinn bent down to grab the books she had dropped. "Don't worry about it stud" she said with a slight smirk. She knew all about Puck. He was the school's number one man whore, and Quinn wasn't one to fall for that so easily.

"Here, let me carry those" he said, taking the books on the ground and the ones in her hands. He smiled at her and asked, "So, who are you? I don't think I know your name"

Quinn rolled her eyes. It wasn't arrogant to say that everyone knew who she was, it was just true. "I'm Quinn. Quinn Fabray. You?" she asked, despite knowing the answer.

"Bond, James Bond" he said with a smirk. Quinn arched a solitary eyebrow. Puck laughed.

"Noah Puckerman at your service."

"Nice to meet you Puckerman"

And they'd been inseparable ever since.

For years they had been friends. Quinn watched as he slept with girl after girl and broke all of their hearts. That was Puck, the big heart breaker. And Quinn had never been too bothered.

As she reached platform 9 ¾, Quinn looked around. She'd been at this school six years, and she'd never met anyone else like Puck. He really was her best friend, and she truly loved him. Everyone else around her was just a minion, someone to do her bidding. Puck was special. He was her best friend.

She spotted him across the platform and wrapped her fingers over his eyes. She laughed as he recognized her and pulled a little flirtatiously on his scarf.

"Calm down there Mohawk man" she smirked, rubbing the hair on top of his head affectionately.


	10. Santana Lopez

_Author's Note: Once again, thank you all, so so much. I love seeing people reading this fic, so really, it means a lot. _

_I asked for your suggestions, so I'm going to actually take them up for consideration. _

_I read a request for Santana, and as it turns out, hers was up next anyway. So it's your lucky day. _

_I'd like you to meet Hogwarts' most misunderstood student._

The Lopezes had been death eaters during the height of Voldemort's regime, and Santana was born slightly before they were arrested after his death. She didn't have parents growing up, she had an orphanage. She had to share her room with more than 5 other kids, but that was all that she shared with them.

Her parents had made precautions in case of their deaths, so she was at least in a orphanage for kids with magical parents. But she wasn't like them. No matter their backgrounds or their sob stories, Santana never had anything in common with this rag tag group of misfits. They were sad and pathetic and lonely. Santana was proud and strong.

Despite spending a majority of her time in the orphanage, Santana did have chances to wander out during trips. She grew attached to being alone. She spent time on these trips walking around lakes and by rivers, feeding ducks and skipping rocks.

The other kids were weirdly attracted to her mystery kid demeanor, and tried to make friends, but Santana wasn't interested. None of them deserved her time.

Despite all of this, Santana wasn't interested in labels. She wasn't one of those judge a book by its cover sort of people. She didn't like people living under the presumption that they understood anything about her. People couldn't understand her. She was unique.

Many assumed that she was mute. She refused to speak before she turned seven. Until the orphanage threw her a birthday party.

A kid asked her if he could have some of her cake.

She looked him straight in the eye and said, "No way mudblood".

Santana built walls around herself to keep protected. She never allowed people to get to her. She never gave them the chance.

But Hogwarts changed that.

Santana hadn't expected to make "friends", but Quinn Fabray didn't want to be her friend. Quinn Fabray wanted a follower. And Santana didn't mind. It made people leave her alone.

In their first two years in Slytherin together, Quinn and Santana were inseparable. Not out of any type of respect or love for each other, just out of convenience. Each had something to offer the other, and it was really a win-win relationship. Quinn looked powerful and Santana was left alone.

But then Quinn met Puck. Santana recognized the signs of something more than friendship early on, but that's all they were. Puck and Quinn were best friends, and Santana was really alone.

It wasn't until one day in Herbology, that things began to change for Santana.

Professor Longbottom was really obsessed with trying to promote inter-house connectedness, and so in his class, the students sat Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Hufflepuff.

And the Slytherins didn't normally have class with Hufflepuffs.

But today Santana found herself wedged between two equally blonde students, yellow and black scarves wrapped around their necks tightly. The boy made some dumb remark about how all of the plants were starved of sunlight kind of like the non-existent plants on some star age ice planet called Hoth where people were fighting or something.

Santana turned on her bitch glare and turned to the boy and said in a voice laced with the deepest amount of disdain, "What the _hell_ are you on about trouty mouth?"

The boy looked puzzled. "Star Wars. Duh. The planet where Han Solo saves Luke from dying of hypothermia". He rolled his eyes as if he'd just stated the most obvious thing in the world.

"Whatever Frog Lips" she muttered under her breath.

"It's not nice to call people names" a small, but sweet voice beside her uttered quietly.

"I'm sorry?" Santana asked in a tone that conveyed that she was definitely _not_ sorry at all.

"It's not nice to call people names. Especially when they just want to talk. But I'm sure you weren't trying to be mean" the blonde uttered, stroking the ear of a stuffed badger that she was holding.

"Oh I _assure_ you blondie. I meant what I said" Santana said. But she didn't say it with as much animosity as she did with others. There was something about the blonde that made her take pause. She was just so _genuine_. Santana was used to people trying to be her friend or try and understand what made her tick. This girl just wanted to talk. And offer advice. And just simply be kind.

Santana wasn't used to meeting people who didn't assume the worst in her.

The blonde let out a small smile, "I don't think you did".

Santana rolled her eyes, more sarcastically than agitated, and let out a small smirk. "Okay, I didn't mean to be mean"

The blonde's face lit up with one of the brightest smiles Santana had ever seen.

"Promise?"

Santana smiled against her better judgment. "Promise."

The blonde leaned towards her, her shoulder grazing Santana's slightly. "_Pinky_ promise?" she persisted.

Santana extended her pinky to the blonde and she interlocked it with hers.

"I'm Santana"

"Brittany"

And their pinkies were still interlocked by the end of class.

And 4 years later, Brittany was still Santana's best, and only real, friend. She scanned the station looking for a sign of the blonde, and letting out a slight angry huff when she couldn't spot her.

But then she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to a familiar stuffed badger being thrown in her face, a black and yellow scarf around its neck.

"It's very cute Britt" she said with her smile that was reserved only for her.

"You think?"

"Yeah. It's even cuter than the ducks"

Brittany let out a squeal and hugged her tight. Santana smiled a little wider, but stopped at the weird looks people were giving them.

"Come on, let's get a compartment" she said, unhooking herself from Brittany.

As they walked towards the train, Santana felt Brittany's pinky wrap around hers.

This time, Santana kept her delighted smile to herself.


	11. Mercedes Jones

_Author's Note: I was actually going to write a different character first, but I figured, what the hell, and listened to someone who made a suggestion. So Mercedes is coming a little bit earlier in the line-up._

_After her, there're only two more characters, so if you think I'm missing someone, you should say it now, because otherwise, they won't be in the story. _

_With that said, here's an origin story for the sassy diva of the group._

Mercedes used to be what you might call a "closeted diva". Growing up in Mississippi, not a lot of people were different, or what you might call confident in their image. So Mercedes was a closeted diva.

Also being one of the only black girls in a school full of hillbillies and country rednecks and racists didn't help either. The South hadn't really learned how to be accepting of everyone yet. And so Mercedes went to school every day wishing she was a little bit taller, a little bit skinnier, and, of course, she wished she looked like all of the other girls. The ones on the cheerleaders, the ones the other boys flirted with, the ones that everyone loved.

Mercedes wished she was one of them.

But she wasn't. She went through all of her elementary school years thinking she was some sort of freak. An outcast. And the truth was, she was different in many ways.

Her parents had explained to her about Hogwarts and the wizarding world and everything she could want to know about magic when she was young. However, because her mother was a muggle, her parents put her in public school just to be safe. But she knew she was a witch when she was about 9. She'd accidentally do magic in class all the time, and it was just little things.

Erasing the board from her desk in the back, kids' lunches would go missing, but in particular, she'd accidentally push all the desks away from her.

And the kids thought she was a freak.

The day she received her Hogwarts letter, she felt great relief. She'd finally be able to get out of here. And she hoped it was to something better.

Mercedes' first time in the Great Hall was one of the scarier experiences in her life. There were so many kids pushing past one another, trying to get a better glimpse at the Sorting Hat. Mercedes tailed behind, just moving along with the group. She didn't like to stick out.

"Ugh. So uncivilized" a voice said next to her as the kids started shoving each other. Mercedes turned to see a very prim and proper young boy standing next to her. His hair was shaped perfectly on his head, and his face had a perfect porcelain shape. All together, he looked very well groomed and obviously cared about his appearance.

He turned to Mercedes with a smile and extended a hand. "Hi. I'm Kurt Hummel".

Mercedes smiled back and took his hand. "Mercedes Jones".

"It's nice to see that there's at least one other first year who doesn't act like a Neanderthal" he said as the first years continued to crowd one another, pushing towards the front of the group.

Mercedes smiled. It appeared that she'd met another diva for the first time in her life.

"At least there's that" she said still smiling.

Mercedes had been a little disappointed when she was sorted into Gryffindor while her new friend was sorted into Ravenclaw, but it didn't really matter.

They were still best friends.

Kurt and Mercedes were known throughout their entire year as the sassy friends. Kurt was her sassy gay friend and she was his sassy black diva. And they were best friends.

Away from Kurt, Mercedes hung out with her fellow house members, namely a girl so short and so persistant, that the people who nicknamed her a hobbit were not far off from the truth. Rachel Berry was a great friend to Mercedes. Before she met her and Kurt, Mercedes had had no one. But at Hogwarts, she had many great friends. Rachel's boyfriend Finn was also Mercedes' friend, but more at the suggestion of Rachel rather than out of them having anything in common.

Kurt brought his Ravenclaw friends to join their group relatively early, so in Hogwarts, they had a large group. And Mercedes had friends.

But Kurt was still her best friend. They spent every class they had together laughing and perusing fashion magazines, hiding them wither physically or by magic when a teacher grew near. And they always had a great time together.

Kurt had come out to Mercedes first, and she helped him learn that it was okay to tell other people. And when he finally did, nothing changed. He was still the lovable person he'd always been.

Even in her sixth year, Mercedes' friendship with Kurt had never wavered. Across the platform, she saw him wearing a blue and black scarf that, due to its brighter colors and the fact that it looked as if it was made from silk, was a homemade masterpiece of Kurt's.

She walked up to him and commented on how fabulous he looked and Kurt smiled at her and said "Well Mercedes, I have to say, red and yellow look better on you than blue is on me". Mercedes laughed and interlocked her arm with Kurt's. "Have you seen Finn yet?"

"Yeah, he went on the train to get Rachel, I told him I was waiting for you" he said, touching her nose with his index finger. Mercedes chuckled.

They boarded the train and found the compartment where their friends were sitting, well, cuddling was more like it.

"Ugh. Gross" Kurt said, opening the door to the compartment and pulling Mercedes in behind him. She laughed again.

"Will you two ever get a room?" Mercedes added, playfully, at Finn and Rachel.

"We had one before you two got here" Rachel shot back, giggling.

Mercedes realized how truly happy she was when she was with her friends, and knew, now, that she was permanently happy. Hogwarts had been the greatest place on earth, and she loved her friends, her school, and everything about her life.

The closeted diva was closeted no more.


	12. Tina Cohen Chang

_Author's Note: Alright. I guess I just have to make a few comments here, and I'll explain more about the vague things I state when they become relevant._

_I had said previously there are only two characters left, but after reading your reviews, I have come to the conclusion that I will be adding another character. So including this chapter, we have 3 more. Hopefully that means that you'll all have the characters you want, and then I will have 14 characters to formulate a storyline around. _

_I think that I will write all the remaining back stories tonight (because I post them the second I finish writing them) so by tomorrow, we'll be in full swing of the storyline._

_So with that exciting news, I'd like to introduce the final female character in this story, Tina Cohen-Chang. _

Some things can be more debilitating than an actual handicap. Sometimes people can be crippled by things that don't manifest themselves physically. There are people who live their lives afraid of everything and everyone else, and they live afraid of an infinite amount of consequences. These people go through their lives with a constant fear of the unknown, the undiscovered; and they build walls to protect themselves from having to get hurt.

Tina knew what that was like. From a very young age, Tina was just plain shy. It wasn't really ever caused by a defining moment or some great trauma from when she was younger. She was just shy. And it had always been that way.

She could remember the first day she stepped through the doors of her elementary school. She was terrified. She had no idea how to react to the massive amounts of people who were crowding the hallways, bustling about. She was terrified.

And it only got worse from there. She moved through elementary school fine. Hiding in the back of her classroom ignoring comments from the teacher, ignoring her fellow classmates. Tina managed. But by the time she got to middle school, she realized just how crippling her fear was.

The lie started with a presentation. A 5 minute presentation about the fall of fascism. Tine stood at the front of the class, staring at her peers. She tried to form a sentence, but the words wouldn't come out. She was literally petrified to say a word. She hadn't been accustomed to presentations yet. She had been content to being ignored. But now she was at the front of the class with no way out.

She hadn't really meant to do it, she knew she didn't have a stutter. But when her first sentence came out, she fumbled over the words so badly that the teacher assumed she had the vocal handicap.

And Tina had found something new to hide behind.

Her parents had been expecting a letter from Hogwarts, and they surprised Tina with it on her birthday. By that time, faking the stutter had become so easy, she didn't even have to think about it.

But the stutter proved to be an issue at Hogwarts. She'd been so used to it for so long, she didn't really know how to stop. She spent her first few months of classes fumbling spells and failing to complete in class assignments. People whispered behind her back about how she didn't deserve to be in Ravenclaw, she couldn't even do basic spells.

She didn't really know what to do until one of their easier Charms classes.

Everyone around the room was practicing their swish! and flick. And Tina couldn't get down the simple words.

"Wi-in-g-g-gard-d-ium Le-eh-v-o-o-sa" she managed to sputter out. Her feather remained still on her desk. Tears were brimming her eyes as she stared at the unmoving feather, alone on her desk, as the others around the room were floating away from their stationary positions.

"Hey, are you okay?" a voice behind her asked. Tina jumped at the voice and turned around to see a bespectacled boy smiling at her.

"I'm fi-i-i-ne" she sputtered, casting her eyes downward as she let out the accidental stutter.

The boy lifted her chin up and gave her a big smile. "It's alright, I'll help you"

After that class period, Tina's swish and flick were perfect, and her feather, barely, but still, managed to lift her desk.

And Tina was eternally grateful to Artie for helping her.

Over the next few months, Artie helped her overcome her stutter with stories of being in a wheelchair and how he had to work through not being able to walk, and how grateful he was when he went to St. Mungo's and was able to walk for the first time in years.

Artie taught her that there are more crippling disabilities that just fear.

And even though Artie was in Hufflepuff, he and Tina were best friends. They were inseparable for their first three years at school. They laughed together, studied together, and ate in the Great Hall together. Tina didn't even remember her stutter by second year and the only reason Artie remembered his wheelchair was because Tina had given him the playful nickname of "Wheels".

But things changed in third year. Tina had expected the first trip to Hogsmeade to be a good one. It was on Valentine's Day after all. Tina spent the entire month of January and the weeks before the 14th in February dropping hints to Artie about the upcoming holiday. But he didn't pick up on anything.

A boy in her house asked her to go with him instead. She agreed, and ever since that day, Mike and Tina were the new inseparable pair. Tina still saw Artie, and they were still best friends.

Even Mike and Artie had become the best of friends, and Tina couldn't help but think every day about how lucky she was to come here. She had true friends, and it was a great feeling.

In her sixth year, Tina still got giggly when Mike called her babe, but she still turned to him and gave him a kiss in return.

"We better get on the train before it fills up" she said, talking to both Artie and Mike. They had always sat together after all.

Practically all the compartments were full. Except for one on the end.

Tina shoved open the sliding glass door and said to her fellow Ravenclaw, "Hey Kurt! Can we crash here?"

Kurt looked up from the conversation he'd been having with the Gryffindors he was seated with and turned to Tina with a smile.

"Of course"

Tina smiled and dragged Mike in behind her as she sat down, Artie following closely behind.

And they were off.


	13. Sam Evans

_Author's Note: Alright, here we go. Second to last intro story. Besides these back stories, I've begun to kind of map out what's going to happen once they actually reach Hogwarts, so if you have a class or a teacher or any type of event (a dance, a Quidditch game, etc.) to happen or make an appearance, let me know now, before I get too far ahead in planning._

_Also, for this chapter, I took some creative liberties. I love _Glee_ a lot, but I have to admit, they absolutely destroyed the potential Sam's character had. So I rewrote parts of his story to better fit with other characters that don't get a lot of attention, and I changed up the people he's friends with. In this story at least, I'll try to make him less of a trainwreck than they made him on the show._

_That's all I have to say. So you can say hello to trouty mouth._

_UPDATE: I made a mistake and accidentally said Blaine was in Ravenclaw._ _Thanks to _CedricDiggoryFTW _for noticing! I've fixed it now hopefully._

Sam Evans had a pretty weird childhood. It wasn't really that it was weird, so much as he was really weird. If there were ever a kid to love Star Wars more than Sam, well, let's just say they don't exist. Plus, it was rare to meet kids that, at the age of 8, spoke all languages in the Tolkien-verse fluently. Some people might say that wasn't something to be proud of, but Sam sure as hell was proud of himself.

But that was just what Sam was like. No matter what came his way, he always had the biggest smile on his face and the biggest go-get-'em attitude of anyone in the entire state. He was an optimist, to say the least.

Even when his parents packaged him up and shipped him off to boarding school, Sam never lost his happy edge. He made straight As so that when they received a report card in the mail, they might have a fleeting feeling of pride for their son.

Sometimes they would send him mail, or a care package, or something. But mostly, Sam was left to fend for himself in the hierarchical society of an all boys boarding school.

And Sam did fine. He went through his years there content, always studying, and occasionally, making a temporary friend. For some reason though, they all had some big issue with him being such a geek. He didn't really care what they thought, but sometimes, when he was forced to study alone, his optimism died a little bit.

The day Sam got his Hogwarts letter was like any other day. They mailed it to him, even though he was apart from his parents, and he didn't really understand what was happening. He called his dad who, on the other end of the line, sounded completely ecstatic. Mr. Evans was yelling across the house to tell Sam's mom, and on the other line, Sam was happy to hear his parents sound proud for once. They'd been afraid he'd end up a Squib like his aunt, but Sam always had faith in himself.

He was an optimist.

But like any other 11 year old boy, he was nervous going to a new school. And so he did something stupid.

Sitting alone in a compartment on the train, Sam knew he was 20 minutes early. He just didn't want to miss the train his first time going to Hogwarts. He fidgeted with his hair, kind of regretting dyeing it, but hey, he had been nervous. It looked alright, but still. Sam was a little bit embarrassed of it.

As the train began to fill up, Sam realized how stupid it was to be in a compartment this early. People were looking in to see if it was empty, and all they saw was a small kid sitting alone, without any friends. So Sam stared at his shoes, and didn't look out the compartment door anymore. He didn't want people to think he was a freak, and his previous unrelenting optimism was beginning to die a little.

Until the door slid open. A short kid with short curly black hair was slamming the compartment door shut behind him and pulling down the blinds on all the windows. He turned around quickly, his back pressed against the door, his arms outstretched. He put his index finger up to his mouth, telling Sam to be quiet. Sam was too stunned to even know what was going on, until he heard voices outside the compartment.

"Where'd that little midget go?"

"I dunno man, I think he went out the train door or something"

"Ah, screw it, we can get him later."

The smaller boy continued to stand there silently, waiting until he was sure the bullies had left. Still, he peeked out of the blinds that were drawn, and let out a sigh of relief. He plopped himself down on the seat across from Sam, as Sam continued to eye him strangely.

"I don't know what got them so peeved. I just told them that they should puck on someone their own size" the boy said, before adding a mischievious smirk. "And then I said since someone as small as me could beat them up anyway, they might as well make it look as if they weren't complete wusses"

Sam was a little thrown back by the straight forwardness of this small, yet surprisingly, bold student. Before he could introduce himself, the kid across from him started talking again.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, my name is Blaine. Blaine Anderson" he said, extending his hand.

"Sam Evans" Sam said, shaking Blaine's hand. Blaine nodded and gave him a wide smile.

"So. How'd you color your hair?" he asked with a smirk. Sam started to blush, and Blaine laughed. "Just kidding man, your secret's safe with me" he said.

Sam smiled. It felt good to have a friend.

When they reached Hogwarts, they were sorted into different houses, Blaine heading over to Gryffindor and Sam to Hufflepuff.

But they still remained close.

When Blaine became one of the youngest seekers to make a house team, Sam went to every game to cheer him on, even if it was against Hufflepuff. Whenever Sam had trouble with final exams, Blaine was right there with him, sometimes all night, until Sam understood. No matter how busy they were or what homework they had to do, they had breakfast together every morning.

And Sam was glad Blaine was his friend.

Even after Blaine came out to him, Sam stood by his side, encouraging him to come out to the rest of their friends. Sam didn't care that people assumed Blaine was dating Sam; Sam was his friend, and he never left his side.

Now they were in their sixth year, and they always rode the train in the same compartment as the day they first met. Sam caught up to Blaine and boarded the train with him, ready for another year.

Blaine turned towards Sam and smiled right before they got to their compartment. "You know what Evans? Manufactured blonde is _still_ a good look on you" he said with a smirk.

Sam punched him.


	14. David Karofsky

_Author's Note: So, from the request of _can-o-soup, _who correctly guessed the last two characters by the way, kudos, I am adding Dave Karofsky to the character list. In the beginning, I don't think he'll have a lot of interactions with most of the characters, except for perhaps Puck, Kurt, and Blaine, and I think he'll have less storylines in the sense that they won't connect with a lot of the other characters in the beginning. _

_And while I do think that you're right about the reasons behind why David bullies, he's still going to be in Slytherin. Let me explain._

_It was mentioned that his friendship group led him to bully Kurt, and while that may be true, he still did bully Kurt. I'd like to make the brief comparison to Snape for example, who called Lily a mudblood despite being her friend, and was in Slytherin even though Dumbledore mentions later that perhaps Hogwarts sorts too early. _

_So yes, I do believe Dave is not honestly a bad person, and that he doesn't deserve to be in Slytherin, but that's where he'll be. His 'group of friends' will be the other Slytherins that have a bad habit of bullying both Blaine and Kurt, and so Dave is really only following in their footsteps._

_As a last note, this will not be as much of an origin story as many of the others, because it'll start in Dave's time at Hogwarts, and explain more of the reasons behind his bullying and how it escalated into him turning into someone he's not. _

_So I'm sorry I'm going against the second half of the request to not put him in Slytherin, but I hope my explanation can provide you some comfort with my reasons._

_That was pretty much the longest author's note ever, so I'll just skip to the part where I actually do some writing. _

The hat sat on his head for a really long time. It was muttering something about "a worried mind" and a "troubling decision" so Dave just sat there quietly. He was surprised when the hat asked him a question directly. "So, where to put you?" the hat whispered into his ear, and Dave didn't really know what to say. His entire family had been in Slytherin, and he would rather die before he'd admit it, but he didn't care where he went. His family had always preached about the whole pureblood thing for as long as he could remember, it just didn't affect him. He never thought he was better than anyone else, he was just always treated that way.

So he didn't care. Even as the hat was pulled off of his head after screaming Slytherin! to raucous applause from the table on the far end of the room, Dave was indifferent. He wasn't better than anyone else, he was just indifferent.

Dave sat next to the Slytherins, the first first year to be sorted into that house. But he was quickly joined by another kid with a Mohawk.

"Name's Puckzilla. What's yours?" the kid said with an aggressiveness that almost seemed out of place in his tiny frame, but still worked due to the ferociousness coming from his eyes.

"I'm Dave Karofsky" Dave said, extending his hand.

The self named "Puckzilla" ignored it. "I have a feeling we're going to be good friends Karofsky" the kid said.

And Dave felt a knot in his stomach.

To say Puck was a bully was a bit of an understatement. He personally targeted and sought after kids who were struggling, and he made their lives hell. Dave never really thought it was right, but he didn't really want to leave his friends either. They were all he had at this school.

It took Dave a few years, but he got used to their bullying routine. They'd go after the kids who were alone, the kids who didn't have people to turn to. And they never did anything too serious. But still, nobody dared to mess with them. Ever.

After Puck joined the Quidditch team in second year, it became his priority to make all the other teams lose. But it wasn't working.

The Slytherin and Gryffindor teams had been in a struggle for several decades, each equally matched in both strength and playing ability. The Championship was always between the two houses, and nothing changed.

Until Blaine came to the school. The first year prodigy found his way into the Gryffindor team, and it didn't take Puck long to notice that Slytherin was losing because of the hobbit-sized first year. So it became Dave's job to make his life a hell. Every other day he followed Blaine down the halls, teasing him about his height, his hair, whatever came to mind. Sometimes Dave would back off because Blaine's friend would show up, but most of the time, Dave made him miserable.

But he stopped. One day in his fifth year, Dave felt a change in his disposition. He was with Puck this time when they met Blaine in the courtyard. Puck took care of threatening Blaine, telling him to throw the game, but out of nowhere another Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw. Finn Hudson was a generally known big guy, but Dave didn't recognize the smaller boy standing next to him.

But the kid named Kurt Hummel had enough pizzazz to convince Puck to back off. "Come on Karofsky, let's get out of here" Puck said, making sure Dave followed him. But Dave was thrown back.

No one had ever made Puck back off before, and Dave turned his head to see Kurt helping up the Gryffindor seeker from the ground.

Dave didn't really know what had changed in that moment, but it was something. Suddenly, he was less interested in bullying. From then on, Dave took a backseat to his group's tirades throughout the school.

Even getting on the train for his last year, Dave wasn't really sure why he was in this house. He had barely any similarities with the people involved, and he generally despised the time he spent with all of them. But he just kept his head down and mouth shut.

"Hey Karofsky! In here." Dave heard Puck's voice coming from a compartment. Inside sat Puck next to the girl everyone knew was his real best friend, Santana, and Brittany. Normally, Slytherin's didn't allow other houses to ride in their compartments. But nobody messed with Santana. Especially not when it involved Brittany.

"So man, how was your summer?" Puck asked, raising his eyebrows to demonstrate that, indeed, _his_ summer had at least been entertaining.

Dave looked out the window and just said, "Oh you know. Same old same old".


	15. Complications and Contradictions

_Author's Note: I have to start this off by apologizing for how long it has taken me to update. In addition to being super super busy studying for my IB exams, I took a _lot_ of time planning this chapter. It took me awhile to decide how I was going to write this chapter, and I wanted to make sure it was the best I could possibly make it. So I do hope you enjoy it._

_I know I haven't gotten _that _many reviews, but I appreciate each and every one I get. I love hearing you guys say you like the story, and I love it even more when you give me suggestions and correct my errors in writing. I'm really _really_ sorry I messed up the house colors, and I'm kind of embarrassed. I'm such a big fan of the series like I can't even explain to you, and I guess I was just so tired when I was writing the chapters that I goofed up the colors. And I'm so beyond sorry. From now on I'll pay close attention to detail, so as to not make you guys angry with me. I want to do this story justice, while also not humiliating the multiple series I'm basing it off of. So I'll do better, promise._

_And I also saw a comment about endgames. I don't remember exactly what it said, but I remember it asking something along the lines of whether or not the couples I hinted at are endgame or not. And I have a complicated answer. Just like the series that this fanfic comes from, relationships grow and change and evolve into something entirely different. So, no, not all of these couples are endgame. They might change and develop and find themselves happy with someone entirely different. I will say that I have already put some of my OTPs together in the introductory chapters, but I have also put together some couples I can't stand. I think it's important for these couples to change and for every character to just find someone they are unbelievably happy with. _

_I also think I remember seeing a comment about the character personalities (that may have been in my head, it's been awhile) and I'll address that comment. It was said that some of the characters' personalities aren't their actual personalities, and I've contorted them a little, especially the characters in Slytherin. So let me remind you, not all characters in _Glee_ started out how they are now. They had _development_. In order for a story to be successful, characters have to change over time, and it's important for drama to be created from these changes. So these characters will continue to change and grow and evolve. I know they may have shaky beginnings, but it will get better. _

_That's my longest author's note so far, so I'll just finish by quickly introducing the chapter. You've met all the characters and you know what houses they're in, but beyond that, there hasn't been a lot of interaction in between the characters. What little interaction there was was not coupled with the POVs of other characters or anything beyond a few lines of dialogue. That's gonna change really fast. The rest of this story will be relatively written in the style of Harry Potter, but each character will get to have their own POV section, while still allowing the other characters to speak and have thoughts. It's been a very experimental process, so please leave me any reviews or comments you have in order to help me. _

_Also, if you have _any_ suggestions about specific classes or clubs or teachers you want to see, just let me know. Keep in mind, this is now in present time, not in the time that Harry was around. That being said, I do realize I accidentally made Dumbledore alive for awhile at the beginning, and yes, he is dead. Sorry about that. McGonagall is headmistress and most of the other teachers are still there. Except Snape. He's dead too. I suppose I should've put a spoiler alert for that, but come on, just read the seventh Harry Potter book. Everyone else has._

_Any other slip-ups I make, I apologize for. It's a lot to keep track of. That all out there, this is the longest chapter I have published thus far, so I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to tell me if you don't, but I really hope you do._

* * *

_A/N edit: Look for the AVPM reference! I hope we have some Starkid fans out there…_

_A/N edit edit: I wrote in the first chapter that if you chose to skip the introductory chapters and start here, you could. So here's the back ground. There are 14 characters. Mike, Tina, and Kurt are in Ravenclaw, Brittany, Artie, and Sam are in Hufflepuff, Rachel, Mercedes, Finn, and Blaine are in Gryffindor, and Puck, Santana, Quinn, and Karofsky are in Slytherin. Artie and Tina are best friends, but Tina is dating Mike. Blaine and Sam are best friends for reasons that are explained in Blaine's chapter, but briefly here I'll say it was because Sam was the first to really accept Blaine for being different. Brittany and Santana are best friends, but Santana also chooses to hang out with the rest of the Slytherins. Quinn and Puck are best friends, and Karofsky has no one. It may seem for awhile that Karofsky is a shallow character without a lot of depth, but in his chapter it kind of explains his past and how he'll continue to grow. Rachel and Finn are dating, and they're also friends with Mercedes and Kurt. Beyond those friendships, people only really know each other because they're in the same house or happen to be in the same class. I hope that covers the information you absolutely need to understand these next chapters, but if not, you could always just go read them... But really. If there needs to be more background info here, I can add it if you let me know what's missing._

* * *

Rachel's robe caught on the side of the train door as she stepped off, and she felt the cloth yank her backwards as she attempted to move forward. She turned back suddenly, and Finn laughed as he unhitched the piece of fabric from the door hinge. Rachel gave him a smirk, attempting to convey her anger at him laughing at her, but unable to stay mad for too long. He did release her after all.

"Thanks Finn"

Finn smiled and draped his arm across her right shoulder, pulling her closer to his right side. "No problem Rach" he responded, giving her a light kiss on the top of her head.

Rachel smiled to herself, glad that Finn was no longer embarrassed about hanging out with her in public. That was _so_ fourth year after all.

"Come on, we need to go catch a carriage before they fill up" Finn said, pulling her along beside him. She nodded at his comment despite the fact that she already knew what he was telling her. Oftentimes, she always managed to ride in a carriage by herself or with Finn and some random second years. But this year it was not the same.

"Kurt! Hey man, can we catch a ride with you?" Finn asked the doe-faced boy sitting in a horseless carriage next to Mercedes.

"Sorry Finn" said a voice behind Finn and Rachel, who turned around to see Artie, Mike, and Tina.

"We are _not_ riding with the Slytherins this year" Artie said as he jumped up on the carriage with Mike and Tina following closely behind him.

"Come on man" Finn said, throwing his hands up in an aggravated gesture as Artie just gave him a humored shrug while laughing.

"Whatever. See you at dinner Mercedes" Finn said, grabbing Rachel's hand and pulling her towards the next carriage that was pulling up. Rachel was kind of aggravated at her friends for leaving her and Finn to fend for their own carriage, but she wasn't _that_ bothered. She did have Finn after all.

"This one's empty" Finn said, helping her onto the rather high step to the carriage. She smiled at him and said, "Thanks".

Finn jumped up into the carriage and sat down next to her and placed his arm around her shoulders once again, the position he had become so accustomed to sitting in.

Finn turned towards Rachel to whisper something in her ear, but Rachel had become distracted by the new group of people boarding their carriage.

"Sup Finnocence? Manhands?" said a familiar looking latina as she stepped up on the carriage, readjusting her green scarf.

Rachel rolled her eyes and spat out at the girl, "Really? Already?"

Santana just gave her a smug look and raised a solitary eyebrow, daring her to say something else. But Rachel kept quiet.

Puck jumped up onto the carriage and sat down next to Santana, Quinn following close behind him. Puck draped both of his arms around the two Slytherin girls and gave Finn a smirk.

"What's wrong Hudson? Jealous much?" he said, the sides of his lips curling up further.

"Shut it Puck, you don't know anything" Finn spat back rather lamely. Puck just laughed.

"Stop it guys" said a small voice from the ground. The three Slytherins and two Gryffindors looked to the ground and saw Brittany standing there, next to Karofsky, stroking her badger in a scared sort of way. "Stop the violence"

"Come on, Britt, we're just kidding. Get up here. Karofsky can find another ride. Right man?" Puck said, addressing Dave with just a jerk of his head.

Dave almost opened his mouth but Brittany interrupted him, saying, "No. I don't want to sit with you. You're being mean."

And with that Brittany walked away towards the last group of people waiting for a carriage with a slight hint of attitude in her strut. Santana moved to follow her, but Quinn gave her a glare that told her to stay seated. Santana leaned back into Puck's arm draped around her with a slight frown.

Dave climbed up into the carriage just as it started to move along the path by itself.

"Hey Brittany! What're you doing over here?" Sam asked curiously as the blond moved towards him and Blaine with her stuffed badger.

"The Slytherins were being mean. So I moved over here" she said simply, giving her animal another tight hug.

Blaine gave Sam a knowing look before addressing Brittany. "Are you really all that surprised? They're kind of known for being the house with the meanest members"

Brittany looked Blaine straight in the eye and said, "Santana isn't mean."

Sam gave Blaine a slight clap on the shoulder, telling him to shut _up_ and turned to Brittany. "Yeah we know Britt. I think they're just misunderstood."

The last carriage had rolled up with no one situated inside and Sam offered up his hand to help Brittany up and she smiled as she took it, stepping into the carriage.

"Thanks" she said with a smile. Sam smiled back and responded with a small "No prob" and then gesturing to Blaine to climb up. Blaine smiled and stepped into the carriage behind Brittany, choosing to sit across from her. Sam was the last onboard, and chose to sit next to Brittany, awarding him a confused expression from Blaine.

Sam just raised his eyebrows and smiled, and Blaine rolled his eyes, knowing that his blonde friend didn't have a chance with the blonde squeezing her badger tightly.

* * *

Kurt always loved stepping into the Great Hall on their first night back each year. It was decorated the best out of any other day in the year, other than Halloween, and the food tasted ten times better after a long speech from McGonagall. Even though this was one of the only times each year that he was forced to sit with his friends from Ravenclaw, Kurt didn't mind at all. He liked hanging out with Mike and Tina, and he didn't get the opportunity to do it all that often. Plus a break from the all diva-ed out Mercedes was not _all_ that bad.

"See you tomorrow Kurt! We _better_ get more classes together than last year. That was a _nightmare_" Mercedes said as she squeezed Kurt's shoulder with a goodbye. Kurt smiled at her and gave her a quick hug as she walked over to the opposite side of the table than Finn and Rachel were sitting on next to a dark haired boy. Kurt frowned as he tried to remember his name; he knew that the short curly-haired boy was in Mercedes' year and in Gryffindor too, but his name kept slipping his mind.

Kurt shrugged it off as he walked towards his own table, choosing to sit across from Mike and Tina. The amount of cuddling and nose kisses they always got up to was close to nauseating. But Kurt sat there quietly waiting for McGonagall's speech, trying to push back his creeping feeling of loneliness.

But Kurt was pulled out of his own thoughts when he felt a hard shove that forced him off of the bench he was sitting sideways on. He looked up from the floor and saw a smirk on Puck's face as he high-fived Karofsky. Kurt made a mental note to not sit on the side of the table facing the Slytherins anymore. He'd forgotten how bad it could get because of how used to sitting at the Gryffindor table he was. Kurt wondered silently if he was going to get hit again or if they would just walk away when Santana answered his question.

"Come on you two, wouldn't want the homosexuality to rub off" Santana said pulling the two thugs away from the small figure on the ground. It wasn't that great of an idea to start a fight that early on. Kurt tried to give Santana a small smile, but she just rolled her eyes as Quinn hooked an arm into hers, pulling her towards the Slytherin table.

Santana followed Quinn's pull towards the Slytherin table when her shoulder bumped into Brittany's.

"Oh. Sorry Britt" Santana said. Brittany just continued towards the Hufflepuff table.

Santana unhooked her arm from Quinn's ignoring the scowl she received from the Slytherin as she moved to talk to Brittany.

"Britt? What's wrong?" Santana asked, perfectly aware that Brittany was the only person she ever bothered to show concern for.

Brittany turned towards Santana, and Santana noted that Brittany still had her badger in her arms with a slight smile.

"You let those guys be mean back there. I don't like it when you hang around them" Brittany said with a slight pout.

Santana reached a hand towards Brittany's shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. "I know Britt, but I mean, what can I do? They're my friends and they're in Slytherin and," Santana gave a small pause. "I dunno Britt. I just have to hang out with them okay. It's not cool to not have friends"

Brittany gave Santana a sad look and just said "I'm your friend" before shrugging off Santana's hand and walking towards the Hufflepuff table. Santana was left standing there alone, as Brittany walked over to the kid with the dorky glasses, following him towards another kid with a mop of blonde hair.

Santana saw Sam turn around and give Brittany and Artie a wave.

"Ugh. Trouty mouth" Santana said under her breath as she moved towards the Slytherin table.

"Well hello again Britt. And hey Artie, I don't think I've seen you like, at all, today" Sam said, getting off the bench to give Artie a quick hug.

"Yeah well I was stuck in the Finchel, Kurt, Mercedes, and Asian couple compartment" Artie said, warranting a laugh from Sam.

"Sounds like fun" Sam said, turning his attention to Brittany now. "You okay Britt?"

Brittany realized she was pouting a little, so she looked up at Sam with a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine." She looked over towards the Slytherin table and saw Santana. With an afterthought she added, "I only like it when Santana calls me Britt" before sitting down on Artie's left, leaving Sam to sit on his right.

"All right students, settle down settle down" McGonagall said, tapping the speaker's podium with her wand several times.

Everyone's attention was turned towards the front.

* * *

"That was the longest speech since _forever_" Blaine said, scooping a large quantity of mashed potatoes on his plate.

Finn gave him a quizzical look and responded, "Dude. Do you maybe wanna calm down on the heap of potatoes you're about to inhale?"

Blaine looked up from the food he was shoveling into his mouth, glancing at Rachel and Mercedes' agreeing expressions.

"Dooh I errrt a lurt er surmfing?" Blaine said through the potatoes in his mouth. Rachel burst out laughing at the convoluted sentence that came from his mouth.

Blaine threw down his fork and leaned back, crossing his arms with a pout on his face.

Mercedes gave him a smile and punched his arm lightly. "Ignore them. Don't let them stop you from eating this _awesome_ food" she said as she scooped some of the same potatoes onto her plate.

Blaine still sat there with his arms crossed until Mercedes waved a fork full of potatoes under his nose.

"Come on…. You know you want to…" she teased him, before Blaine let himself laugh.

He went back to eating his potatoes, but not before he looked up at Finn and Rachel, and laughing, said, "Ugh. I hate you all". He then proceeded to eat his entire plate.

"Holy Asian god that kid eats fast" Tina said from the Ravenclaw table, with a laugh. Mike kissed her on the cheek and added, "He kinda has to. It's about to be Quidditch season. Gotta keep up the calories."

Kurt followed their gazes towards the dark haired boy he had seen earlier, and saw that they were, indeed, right.

"Is it _possible_ to eat food that fast?" he said, returning his gaze back towards Mike and Tina.

"Well you know hobbits. They eat all the time. Breakfast, second breakfast, lunsies, afternoon tea…" Mike started to say until Tina rolled her eyes.

"You just committed _so_ many fouls there. One, any more nerd references and I might implode, and two, Blaine is not _that _short" Tina said, giving Mike a jokingly fierce glare.

Mike smiled at her and kissed her on the nose. "You love that I'm a nerd."

She smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, I do"

_Blaine_, Kurt though. _So _that's _his name. _Kurt couldn't help but steal another glance towards the Gryffindor table. He didn't know why he'd never really hung out with the boy before. Judging from the conversations he was having, he seemed to be good friends with Mercedes and Finn, but Kurt couldn't remember being introduced to him.

But Kurt did remember something from a few years back. He remembered when Blaine was being beat up by the Slytherins, and he and Finn had stepped in. Why didn't he remember this until now?

Kurt was surprised at his inability to shake the memory of the boy he hadn't really even spoken to before. And he tried to refocus his attention back to Mike and Tina.

Kurt suddenly felt something slimy hit the back of his head, and he whipped around to see Puck give Karofsky yet another high five.

"Good one man!" Puck said, clapping him on the shoulder. Quinn gave the two boys a small smile and turned to say something to Santana, when she noticed Santana's mopey expression.

"San, what's wrong?"

Santana jerked her head up as if she hadn't even noticed that she was sitting there quietly and looked to Quinn.

"Nothing's wrong" she said, as she glanced towards the Hufflepuff table. She added with a afterthought as she looked away from Brittany, "and don't call me San".

Quinn followed the latina's gaze towards the table decked out in yellow and saw her looking towards Brittany.

"Come _on _Santana. Why do you even hang out with her? You have us. And she's in Hufflepuff. I mean, if you're going to have a friend they might as well be of _some_ use to you. Pick a Ravenclaw to do your homework or something. Not some half-retarded blondie from 'finder' territory"

Quinn hadn't expected the razor gaze she got from Santana, or the bitchy words that quickly poured out of her mouth.

"Don't you _ever _speak like that about Britt again. You hear me you bleached out half-baked self-righteous princess? Not ever _fucking_ again."

Santana turned back to the food on the table and started piling it onto her plate, eager to avert her gaze from Quinn.

Quinn arched an eyebrow towards Santana and leaned over and whispered maliciously into her ear. "And don't _you_ forget, Santana, you wouldn't be here today if it weren't for me. You may _think_ you don't need us as your friends, or that you don't _need_ to be in Slytherin, I don't know. But _trust_ me when I say that I picked you up from the recesses of this school and I can drop your ass back there just as soon as you stop being useful to me"

Santana tensed up next to her, but didn't say anything in return.

Quinn sat back up and smiled. "That's what I thought" she said, as she turned back towards her own food. She looked across the table and saw Puck raise a solitary eyebrow towards Quinn and cock his head to the side. Quinn just mouthed _not now_ and returned to eating her food.

Santana's raised voice had caught the attention of Artie, and he turned his head to Sam and asked, "What do you think that's about?". Sam just shrugged and took another large bite of chicken. Artie frowned and looked at Brittany, whose gaze was locked on the Slytherins as well. "Brittany?" Brittany looked towards Artie and gave him an unconvincing shrug before turning back to her plate of fries.

Artie decided to just let it go and returned to his plate full of food. Hogwarts feasts were always the best.

* * *

"Okay no. I am _not_ taking a double Potions class in the morning. I _refuse_. Do you have any idea what that will do to my week? Double Potions! On a Monday morning! How is this even _fair?_"

Sam was clutching his schedule with a deep resentment. Nobody likes Double Potions, but it's definitely worse when Slughorn decides to use your 'trouty mouth' nickname in class.

Blaine gave Sam a sympathetic smile and patted him on the shoulder. "At least we have Arithmancy together later…"

Sam looked at Blaine with an astounded expression. "Are you kidding? You _know_ I would fail that class if I didn't have your help. I _suck_" Sam said with a downcast look.

Blaine put an arm around his shoulder, realizing his friend's genuine concern with his classes. "Hey, Sam. You'll be fine. You're a lot better at these classes than you think you are. I believe in you man. You're actually really really good at Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and as long as you don't plan on doing math or making potions for the rest of your life, I think you'll be fine"

Sam was still looking down at the ground with a desperate expression so Blaine let go of him and instead turned to face him with a hand on each of his shoulders.

"Come one Sam. You're going to be _fine_. We can just get through today. And then we'll move on from there."

Blaine sat there patiently until Sam looked into Blaine's eyes, the corners of his mouth finally turning upwards. Blaine clapped his shoulders simultaneously while saying, "there we go" with a big smile.

And then Blaine felt a hard shove throw him forward into Sam, causing them both to fall onto the ground.

"Well, well, well, lady boys. It took you less than a day to get all handsy with each other huh?" Karofsky spat at them, standing next to Puck.

Blaine pushed himself off of Sam and sat up next to him, standing slowly. He reached an arm down to help Sam up, and turned towards the pair of Slytherins.

"Oh yes, haha, the gay guy at school has a guy friend so they must be dating. For your information, Sam is straight, and with your obsession with drawing attention the fact that I'm not, people might start to question exactly where your motives lie."

Blaine didn't know why he chose the first day of _all_ days to be snarky towards Slytherin, but the second he felt Karofsky shove him again, he knew that he was making a mistake.

"Shut it homo-explosion. We don't tolerate back talk, especially from prancing Gryffindors" Puck spat at Blaine from behind Karofsky.

"Funny how the 'prancing Gryffindors' manage to lead a Quidditch team that manages to beat yours" Blaine shot back.

He felt Sam put a hand on his shoulder, begging him to shut up and not push Karofsky and Puck past their breaking point. Blaine shrugged off his arm harshly and continued to face Puck and Karofsky.

"_Funny_, Anderson, how my fist could break your face" Puck said, stepping in front of Karofsky to stand less than a foot from Blaine.

Blaine swallowed and looked him straight in the eye. "You don't have the _nerve_, Puckerman" he said, lacing each of his words with as much venom as he could.

The next few seconds went by very fast. Blaine felt someone hit him, but not hard, another person shoved him, and he shoved back. He could feel Sam step closer to the fight from behind him, but he put out an arm to stop him. If there was one thing he hated more than anything, except perhaps homophobes, it was his friends having to fight his battles.

Puck had brought up his arm to hit Blaine again, but a figure with a blue tie stepped behind him and grabbed his forearm to stop him. Puck spun around at the same time Karofsky reached towards Blaine to put him in a headlock, and saw Kurt holding on as tightly as he could to his arm.

"Bad move Hummel. Bad move" Puck said with a sort of sick smile on his face. By this point, Sam was already running for help, and Kurt was left with nothing to do but hold his breath and prepare himself to get hit.

"Boys! Stop this right _now_"

McGonagall was standing there with an outraged expression on her face. Sam was standing behind her, and gave Blaine a thumbs up. Blaine rolled his eyes. This happened literally _every_ year. It was always just a matter of time.

Karofsky had Blaine's head in a headlock, and Blaine's arm was feebly attempting to grab at Karofsky's throat. Kurt's hands were still wrapped around Puck's forearm, and Puck's other arm was lifted up to prepare and punch Kurt.

They kind of all looked guilty, especially to McGonagall.

"I am going to fetch your Heads of Houses, and you are to head to my office to await our arrival to discuss your punishment. Mr. Evans," Sam perked up from behind McGonagall. "I believe you have Potions first?" Sam nodded. "Please head to your class and send Slughorn to my office."

Sam nodded at McGonagall, and shot a worried expression towards Blaine. Blaine had to admit it even to himself, he didn't know why McGonagall hadn't just sent away Blaine and Kurt as well. And now they were headed towards McGonagall's office together.

"Screw you Puckerman. Now we're both gonna get detention" Blaine said as he walked down the hall behind Puck and Karofsky. Kurt was walking by his side, simultaneously aggravated and flustered. Blaine could hear him huffing all sorts of foul insults under his breath.

"Whatever fairy dust. Not our fault you try and spread your love over everyone"

Blaine clenched his fists at his sides and tried to not lash out. "I am _not_ dating Sam. He is my best friend. Why can't you just leave me alone?"

They were reaching McGonagall's office and Puck turned towards Blaine right before they stepped inside.

"Because Anderson. You're still on the Quidditch team". Puck shoved Blaine into the room, with Kurt following right behind him.

The two Slytherins decided to sit on the opposite side of the room, while Blaine and Kurt sat in the chairs in front of McGonagall's desk.

The room was quiet for several minutes, before Blaine leaned slightly towards Kurt and said quietly, "Thanks for that. I guess you're used to saving my ass" Blaine said with a smile.

Kurt smiled to himself. So he remembered too.

* * *

"What the _hell_ was that all about?" Finn inquired to Rachel as she walked away from speaking to Sam.

"Just Puck and his thughead beating Blaine around again. Nothing out of the norm" she said, finally reaching Finn and linking her hand with his.

Finn was still bothered, and he added to Rachel's offhanded comment, "Yeah, but normally they wait until the first Quidditch game comes up, or practice or _something_. It just seems like they're going out of their way to be assholes."

Rachel squeezed his hand and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I love that you're so concerned. But Blaine'll be fine. Kurt stepped in after all."

Finn was surprised at hearing that Kurt had had to step in; Blaine was really good friends with Sam after all, and Sam was there.

"Why didn't Sam do anything?"

"He said he went to get McGonagall after Blaine shoved him out of the fight. I didn't bug him about it. Besides, I get the impression that Blaine doesn't like it when people fight his fights"

Finn nodded knowingly, before glancing at his schedule to figure out which class he had first.

"We have Herbology with the Ravenclaws first" Rachel said, answering his question before he could read the schedule.

"Ugh. I hate being outside first period. At least we're not with the Slytherins"

Rachel gave him a smile and added, "Yeah. At least there's that" before they headed towards the front doors to the outside.

Mercedes was already standing at the long table by herself when Finn and Rachel walked in, and they stood across from their fellow Gryffindor, pulling their Herbology supplies out of their bags.

"Has Professor Longbottom come in yet?" Rachel asked a little concerned because they were a few minutes late.

Mercedes shook her head indicating that no, he hadn't been there before she asked Rachel, "Where's Kurt? I thought he was with you guys…"

Rachel looked to Finn with a slight grimace before turning back to Mercedes to tell her about Puck and Karofsky.

* * *

"Those two meatheads can't just ever resist the opportunity to behave abnormally. I mean really? Can we _not _just go to _one_ class before they get thrown into detention?" Quinn huffed out angrily, walking beside Santana towards their double Potions period with the Hufflepuffs.

Santana knew that Quinn was just aggravated that she couldn't spend more time with Puck, but she kept her mouth shut. She hadn't talked to Quinn since she had lashed out against her for offending Brittany, and she wasn't looking forward to spending an entire period trying to avoid eye contact with Brittany. She really did love having Britt as a friend, but it did cause her a lot of trouble with Quinn. And Santana needed Quinn. As much as she hated to admit it.

Quinn walked in front of Santana to enter the dungeon, running into a tall blonde.

"Ugh, trouty mouth, do you _mind_ getting out of my way please?" Quinn spat out at Sam with a tone that indicated she wasn't the least bit sorry.

Sam moved, a little bit shocked, to sit closer to Brittany, situated across the table from Artie.

"Sorry Q" he mumbled, giving Brittany a confused look.

Quinn just gave him a surprisingly attractive smirk before continuing towards the empty table that had always been the Slytherins.

Brittany looked at Santana who had just entered the room and the Latina locked eyes with her. Brittany wanted so badly for Santana to just give up on Quinn and the other Slytherins, and for just a moment, Santana looked as if she wanted to move to the empty spot next to Artie.

"Santana! Get over here!" Quinn barked at her from the spot she was now situated at. Santana looked at Brittany and mouthed, _I'm sorry_, before going to sit across from Quinn, her back to Brittany.

Brittany frowned a little, but turned towards her opened Potions book, trying to distract herself with any thoughts other than those of Santana.

"Get your head out of your ass Lopez. You don't need her" Quinn said before opening her book to the page indicated on the board.

Santana bit back the cruel retort she wanted to say so badly.

* * *

"I haven't seen Artie today, I hope he's doing alright" Tina mumbled as she walked with her fingers interlocked with Mike's toward the greenhouses.

Mike looked at Tina who was purposefully avoiding his gaze. "I'm sure he's fine. You guys don't need to hang out _all_ the time you know. You're best friends, not each others caretakers"

Tina looked towards Mike at his sudden outburst with a confused and hurt expression. "We don't hang out _all_ the time. I just enjoy his company. We've been best friends for forever. You can't expect me to just forget him. It's not all about you Mike" Tina concluded with a rather harsh tone to her voice.

"No, that's not what I was saying, I—I just meant, I mean, I don't know Tina. It just seems like we don't spend a lot of time together."

Tina glared at him hard, before letting go of his hand saying, "Fine. I'll just go spend 'less time with you' with the Gryffindors in Herbology" before storming off towards the greenhouse.

"Tina! Tina, come on. I'm sorry. That's not what I meant" Mike said, catching up to her and grabbing her hand. "I love you okay? And that means I like spending time with you alone. Why is that a bad thing?" he begged her, just wanting her to turn around and look at him.

Tina paused a moment, realizing just how rashly she had lashed out at him. Perhaps a bit too harshly than he deserved. "No, Mike. It's not a bad thing. I'm sorry. Let's just go to class" she said, walking beside him again.

Mike seemed satisfied with her response, but Tina was still confused at her sudden lash out towards Mike. She hadn't ever really gotten mad at him before, and she didn't like that their short disagreement was about Artie.

She didn't know why she'd been so defensive.

* * *

Blaine was tapping his fingers impatiently against his chair. Nobody had spoken in the room since they'd walked in, but Blaine could feel the balled up pieces of paper that Puck was throwing at his head. He decided to just ignore them.

As hard as Blaine tried to avoid looking at Kurt, he couldn't help but steal a glance towards him at least once a minute. Every so often, he would catch Kurt looking at him too, and they'd both look away. He and Kurt hadn't ever really spoken, Kurt had just saved his ass once. Finn was there too, and Blaine _was_ friends with Finn. But not Kurt. Blaine didn't really know why, he didn't have any friends in Ravenclaw really. He mostly hung out with Sam and his fellow Gryffindors, but sitting in McGonagall's office, he didn't know why.

Kurt had been willing to just jump into a fight against Puck. And Blaine didn't know a lot of people willing to do that.

He glanced towards Kurt once more, caught his gaze, and looked away hurriedly.

Kurt didn't miss the sudden look, and at this point, he hoped that Blaine hadn't noticed that he kept staring at him. Kurt just couldn't help it. He didn't know why he'd never really spoken to the short Gryffindor before. He just hadn't. But apparently he was friends with some of his best friends without Kurt's knowledge. Kurt wasn't bothered by this, not at all, but he was curious.

The dapper young Gryffindor had a lot of appeal after all.

Kurt was embarrassed when he jumped up in his chair at the sound of the door opening, but he recovered quickly.

"Alright boys, time to have a little _chat_ with your Heads of Houses" McGonagall said as she let the Head of Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin into the room.

"This ends here" she continued, glaring at all four of the Hogwarts students.

Blaine looked at Kurt who had a scared expression and tried to give him a smile. But he was nervous too.

* * *

_Next time in the Wizarding World of New Directions:_

_Blaine, Kurt, Puck, and Karofsky get their sentence from their professors and headmistress and it's not exactly a walk in the park._

_Tina continues to question her relationship with both Artie and Mike, trying to sort through her feelings as she goes on without displaying any sign of self-conflict._

_Santana and Brittany continue to work out their friendship and how they'll continue to be so with the ever looming presence of Quinn and the other Slytherins._

_Rachel grows closer to Sam as Blaine finds a new friend to hang out with and Finn turns to Mercedes to figure out what to do about his girlfriend's sudden change. _


	16. You've Got It All Wrong

_Author's Note: This is going to be a quick A/N just to get things under way. Once again, thanks to everyone reading and reviewing and thanks for continuing to do so. It really does mean the world to me. _

_Now, I'd like to discuss the issue of the Heads of Houses. I figured Slughorn can still be Head of Slytherin, and Neville Longbottom as the new Herbology teacher can be Head of Gryffindor, but Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw provide a challenge. I decided just to use Penelope Clearwater as the head of Ravenclaw, despite the fact we really know nothing about her future. She'll also serve as the Transfiguration teacher. For Hufflepuff, it's a little bit more challenging. J.K. Rowling has talked before about how Neville marries Hannah Abbott. So, I decided she could be in the story as well. She'll be head of Hufflepuff as well as the Arithmancy teacher. I don't know if she ever took it or if she's even good at it, but it's not that relevant anyway. _

_With that explanation out of the way, here's another multi-POV chapter with a lot of storylines and problems._

_As always, I hope you enjoy._

* * *

_A/N edit: In the Sorcerer's Stone book, Neville actually goes into the forest, not Hermione. So I went off of that instead._

_A/N post-writing edit: I know that I move character to character fairly fast and I realize now that I'm not keeping very good track of whose POVs I do. So if you think I'm not going over your character enough or you want me to go over a character specifically for more than I have, please let me know. I'm not doing a good job of it by myself, so I'd love your help or suggestion._

_A/N random edit in case you think the writing is really bad for this chapter: I wrote this entire thing tonight while watching the Blair Witch Project. I was both terrified and distracted. Hence this semi-awful chapter. With more cussing than normal. Maybe. I don't know. I'm just really scared of witches right now._

* * *

"There is no _fucking_ way!" Puck shouted, rising out of his chair for the first time since entering McGonagall's office.

"Noah! Sit down. And watch your language" Slughorn said in reply, his expression mirroring both one of false concern and warning.

Puck knew that he had to learn to hold his tongue, but there really was just no way.

"I'm with Puck on this one, isn't the Forbidden Forest a bit too much for the students? It's fine for class, but for a simple detention?" Neville said in agreement to Puck.

McGonagall turned to the Head of Gryffindor and gave him a knowing smile. "I seem to recall a time when you had to go in there in just your first year Professor, and you didn't do all that poorly."

Neville smiled and gave a slight nod to McGonagall in agreement. "You're right, I suppose a little scare could do them all some good."

McGonagall smiled back at Neville before turning to Professor Clearwater.

"Well Penelope, what do you say? A little walk in the forest for our boys here?"

The Head of Ravenclaw sat in her chair with her arms crossed staring at her fingers tapping in a rhythmic pattern. She turned to her own student and asked him, "I guess I'm just confused. Why are you involved Kurt? These three have a history of fighting and disagreements, but what were you doing?"

Kurt hadn't looked up from his folded hands across his lap and he kept his head down as he tried to answer her question.

"Well, um, it looked like they were both beating him up and it was just him. No one should have to fight their battles alone" Kurt said as his sentence trailed away. He couldn't even explain to himself why he had interrupted the fight. It wasn't really any of his business, but he had still fought for Blaine.

Kurt lifted his head for the first time and turned it a little towards Blaine. He was surprised to see that Blaine was looking at him already, his brown eyes focused on Kurt's, trying to read his reaction. Kurt just gave him a small smile and said, "It just looked like he needed help".

Blaine's eyebrows were knotted in concern, but he gave Kurt a hardly noticeable smile, meant only for him. He hoped Kurt noticed, because despite barely knowing the Ravenclaw, he was growing more and more attached.

"Well that's fine and all Kurt, but you can't just go picking fights with people. Next time, just go get a teacher"

Kurt turned back towards his Head of House and nodded curtly before returning his vision to his hands. This time, he ignored the urge to look towards Blaine.

* * *

Rachel sat in the giant armchair in Gryffindor house with her legs curled underneath her as she read her Herbology book. She looked up only as Finn sat on the arm of the chair and put his arm around her.

"You know Rach, class was cancelled because Professor Longbottom had to leave… You don't have to read the book outside of class."

Rachel looked down at her book, mindlessly flipping the pages.

"Yeah. I know. I guess I'm just bothered by why he had to leave."

Finn sat there for a minute. He opened his mouth to ask Rachel to clarify when she answered his question.

"Finn! He had to go talk to McGonagall about Blaine and Kurt's fight with Puck and Karofsky!"

"Oh, yeah…" Finn said kind of mumbling.

Rachel huffed out a sigh and stood up suddenly. "Nevermind Finn. I'm just going to go find Sam." She said as she left through the Fat Lady's portrait entrance.

"Sorry Mercedes" Rachel said as she hit the other girl coming into the Gryffindor house.

"It's okay Rach. Catch you later?" Rachel nodded and continued walking out of Gryffindor.

Mercedes looked after Rachel as she stormed out with a confused expression. Her answer was solved when she looked towards Finn who shared an equally confused expression.

"Alright Hudson, what did you do now?"

* * *

"It's like the entire effing school has shut down. Did they really need every single Head of House to just give them their dumb detention?" Quinn lashed out angrily as she and Santana headed towards the Slytherin common room.

They passed the library where the Hufflepuffs who had left Potions were studying. Santana caught Brittany's gaze as she and Quinn passed by and Brittany just glanced at her before looking back at her work. Santana wanted so badly to walk over to her and apologize or talk to her or something, but she was with Artie and Sam. Santana didn't hang around kids that weren't from Slytherin.

Except for Brittany.

"For the love of Salazar Santana, will you just _stop_? For the last time, she's in Hufflepuff. The only reason we let you hang around her is because she's hot, and Puck and Karofsky both had a bizarre obsession with trying to nail her for our first five years here. We don't care if she's your friend, she's not _useful_. What is your problem?" Quinn was glaring at Santana. And Santana didn't have the energy to argue with her. Brittany was pissed and Santana was tired.

"You know what Quinn, you're right" Santana said as she looped her arm through hers. Santana saw Brittany turn towards her with both a surprised and confused expression.

"I don't need her anymore"

And Santana really wanted to believe it.

* * *

"This just doesn't make any sense"

Brittany's attention was brought back towards the impatient blonde next to her.

"It's alright Sam, we haven't even really started class yet. He just gave us homework since class got cancelled"

Sam sighed and shoved his book away from him.

"Yeah, well, this homework doesn't even make any sense. Slughorn's an ass" Sam said bitterly.

Brittany was having trouble being concerned with Sam right now. She hadn't missed Santana's loud statement of basically disowning Brittany, and it really hurt her feelings. She wasn't used to Santana siding with the Slytherins, and already, she was taking their side. The year had barely begun and Brittany was already tired of fighting. She still didn't know why she was friends with Santana.

As she walked the latina walk away with Quinn, she really just didn't know.

"Britt? You okay?" Artie asked her, pulling her out of her thoughts.

Brittany smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine" she said before turning back to her Potions homework. She glanced up at Sam quickly just to say "We're gonna be fine. We can do this if we just concentrate on it together".

Sam looked at Brittany for one of the first times since they walked into the library. Her eyes were showing a lot of hurt. He looked behind him as her gaze turned back to her book and saw Santana and Quinn walking away. It wasn't hard to make the connection. Santana and Brittany had been good friends for awhile, but already, Brittany was hanging out with Artie and Sam instead of Santana and her Slytherin friends. And Sam knew she wouldn't talk about it. Brittany only opened up to Santana.

Sam wanted to bring an arm up to Brittany's shoulders, but Rachel stormed into the library right before he could.

"Sam! I've been looking for you everywhere!" she said hurriedly as she practically ran to the table where the Hufflepuffs were working.

Sam was a little confused to say the least, he hadn't been let on to the fact that he and Rachel were friends, so her searching for him was definitely news to him.

"Uh… why?" he asked, interested in the response.

"Has Blaine come back from McGonagall's yet? I haven't seen Kurt, and I guess I was just worried." Rachel said and increasingly quizzical expression crossing her face.

Sam looked back to Brittany and felt guilty that her presence had managed to distract him from the fact that his friend was currently being berated by McGonagall and three out of the four Heads of Houses.

"Uh, no Rachel. I haven't seen Blaine. I think they're all still with McGonagall" Sam muttered, turning his vision back towards his Potions book.

Rachel pouted and went over to Sam's side and pulled on his arm.

"Come _on_. Let's go find them." Rachel said, pulling Sam out of his chair.

"All _right_. I'm coming" Sam grumbled as he left Artie and Brittany alone in the library.

* * *

"I swear to _God_ Anderson. I am going to kill you." Puck whispered to Blaine as the four students made their way back to their own common rooms.

Blaine rolled his eyes and started walking in the opposite direction. He just needed to get away from Puck. Luckily the Slytherin made his way to his own common room in the opposite direction and Blaine was free to go towards Gryffindor House.

"Hey. Hey!" A voice behind him called and Blaine was aggravated now. He was _done_ dealing with Puck and Karofsky and he just wanted them to leave him alone.

"What the hell do you want?" he asked angrily, turning around with a glare etched into every line on his face. He was surprised to see Kurt standing there with a shocked expression on his face. Blaine instantly realized how rude he sounded and wanted to apologize immediately, but Kurt beat him to it.

"Sorry. I guess I just wanted to see if you were okay after all this or whatever." Kurt mumbled, moving to turn away from Blaine. Blaine felt terrible and he reached forward and grabbed Kurt's shoulder lightly, turning him back around.

"I'm sorry. I thought you were Puck… I didn't mean to shout at you. I'm really really sorry Kurt" Blaine said, letting go of Kurt's shoulder and looking into his eyes. "Really. I'm sorry" Blaine said again.

Kurt smiled at him and shook his head in a humorous way. "It's alright. I understand. They can be real jerks. I'm glad you're alright" he said. "Still, it sucks that we have detention with them in the Forbidden Forest. I know Hagrid will be there, but still, there'll be bugs and stuff." Kurt gave a shiver and shook his head. "I really do hate spiders" he said with a hollow laugh.

Blaine couldn't help but feel even more guilty now. Clearly Kurt wasn't feeling all too brace about having to go into the forest, and Blaine had to admit, even if it was only to himself, that he was pretty scared too.

"I'm really sorry Kurt. I don't even know you and you were willing to step into a stupid fight for me. You could've been hurt or something, and I don't even know what I would do. I can't imagine anyone hurting themselves for me and I'm really sorry you got involved in this" Blaine rambled on and on. He could hear himself talking excessively, but Kurt stepped in to stop him.

He grabbed Blaine's shoulders and looked him square in the eyes. "Blaine. Stop. It's _fine_. It's just one detention. And it was worth it." Kurt said with a shrug.

Blaine smiled at him and just said, "Well, thanks for that". Kurt smiled back and winked. "Totally worth it" he said as he walked away.

And Blaine just stared after him completely awestruck.

* * *

"At least we got out of Herbology" Mike said with a smile as he locked his fingers with Tina's as they walked down the hall.

"Are you kidding? That just means we're more behind! We have N.E.W.T.s next year! We have to _study_!" Tina said aggravated, letting go of Mike's hand, still continuing angrily down the hall towards the library.

"Woah, Tina, calm down. It's just one class." Mike said as he moved towards her side, following her. "What's wrong with you today?"

Tina sighed and tried to collect her thoughts once again. She knew she was acting bizarre, but that's what she did when she got emotional. She ignored or confused the problem. She tried to cover it up with things like her stutter or by being shy and avoiding people. But Mike knew her better than that. And she knew that he wouldn't let this go.

"I'm sorry. I guess I'm just getting stressed. We only have two years left, and then what? I don't know. I'm just worried about… stuff" Tina purposefully to avoid bringing Artie into their conversation. She didn't want to worry Mike. She had to deal with this all on her own.

But Tina was pulled out of her own thoughts when Mike forcibly grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him, his face just inches from hers. It wasn't a violent movement, but Mike still looked serious. "Listen Tina, I love you. And I know that _something_ has got you acting weird. I don't care that you don't want to tell me, but I want to make sure you're okay. You don't have to trust me with it right now, but at some point, I want to help you deal with this." Mike kissed her on the forehead and smiled. "Okay? Please Tina. Let me help you" he said again, never dropping his smile.

It was times like this, when Mike was wonderful and caring and concerned with everything that happened to her, that Tina felt especially guilty about being so damn confused about everything. Some days she knew that Artie was just a really good friend, but some days she'd catch a look out of the side of his eye or a certain smile or a weirdly phrased sentence, and she'd be convinced that he felt something different. And Tina was just always confused.

"Okay Mike. I'm sorry" she said giving him a kiss on the nose. "Let's just go to the library and do this homework and move forward." Tina knew that that would stop his questions at least for awhile, and they made their way towards the library.

"Hey Artie! What're you doing here? I thought you had Potions?" Mike said to the bespectacled boy sitting at a table with Brittany.

"Didn't anyone tell you?" Artie said with a quizzical brow. Mike was confused, mostly because he had no idea what he was talking about. Professor Longbottom had just left Herbology unexpectedly, and Mike hadn't really thought about the possibility that it might involve other teachers.

"No. Why, what's going on?"

Brittany chose to answer this time, and Mike had to admit that he was confused as to why Brittany was even with Artie right now. She spent most of her time with Slytherins.

"The two gay guys were fighting with Puck and Karofsky"

Mike spoke before he really meant to, but he knew that his words were mean the second he said them. "Oh yeah, and what did your friends do this time?"

Brittany looked up from her Potions book with a glare that neither of the Ravenclaws or Artie had ever seen. "They're _not_ my friends" she said as she slammed her book shut, standing simultaneously. "You don't know anything about me" she continued as she walked out of the library angrily.

"Good job man. Why the hell did you have to rail on her like that?" Artie asked, clearly pissed off.

"Yeah, Mike, just calm down" Tina agreed, taking the spot closest to Artie at the table.

Mike looked at the both of them and shook his head in disgust. "Okay, you know what Tina? I guess I'm just a little confused and upset right now. You're acting weird and you won't tell me why, and you yell at me about it, but then refuse to discuss it. I mean, what do you want from me?" Mike yelled out huffily. He had a _lot_ of patience, but everything that was happening was trying it.

"You know what? I'll just leave you with Artie. Maybe you'll tell your best friend instead of your boyfriend" he spat out before storming out of the library as Brittany had done just before.

Tina and Artie sat in complete silence before Artie turned to Tina and asked, "Tina, what's going on?"

* * *

Brittany was walking down the hallway relatively fast as she held onto her books tightly, tears stinging her eyes. She hadn't realized until Mike had said it, that _everyone_ thought that the Slytherins besides Santana were her friends. They put her into that group of hateful, inconsiderate and just plain cruel people who made it their sole purpose to belittle and berate people that she had always considered to be her friends. Until today at least. They all probably hated her. And she could see why. The Slytherins were jerks. Brittany had considered Santana to be the exception, until today.

Santana had been acting like a real jerk since they got on the train, and Brittany didn't know why her friend wouldn't just choose her over the Slytherins just once. Brittany really did love Santana as a friend, and Brittany was realizing that Santana clearly didn't treat her with the same respect.

Brittany didn't even realize she hadn't been paying attention to where she was going until she ran into someone, dropping her own textbooks in the process.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I just—" Brittany tried" to wipe the tears from her eyes as she bent down to grab her books"

A hand placed itself on top of hers as she scrambled to pick up her books.

"Britt… What're you doing down here?"

Brittany looked up to see Santana herself, bent down beside Brittany as she tried to pick up her books. Brittany looked around her and realized that, once again, she was in the dungeon for the second time that day. And even though she wasn't a Slytherin, Santana had brought her to the dorms before, so Brittany knew she was close.

"I just—Um. I don't know. I—I was uh, I was trying to—I don't know. I didn't realize." Brittany finished lamely looking down at her fallen books once again. She realized that she probably had some innate desire to go and just find Santana and talk to her, just solve or do _something_. But now she couldn't even look at her without wanting to cry.

"Britt. Did you come down here to find me?" Santana asked slowly.

Brittany looked up at her, determined to not cry, and said, "No. I didn't. I just—I wasn't paying attention. And I got lost. And I—I didn't want to go back to my House. And I didn't know where to go." Brittany felt her voice break and took a deep breath to try and keep herself from crying. "Everyone hates me Santana. They think I'm another Slytherin jerk who tries to bring people down and I don't have any other friends. You are my _only_ real friend and because of that, no one else even likes me. And I'm not an unlikeable person Santana. I'm not" she said, bowing her head again. She was cursing herself as she wiped the tears streaming down her cheek, knowing she failed herself when she couldn't stop crying. She hated feeling like this. She loved Santana and loved being her friend, and it just hurt so much that she didn't feel the same.

"You're my best, and I think maybe only, friend. Why can't you act like it? Why can't you just want me back?" Brittany cried at Santana, getting the courage finally to grab her things and storm off, this time in the opposite direction of Slytherin house.

She may have had nowhere else to go, but anywhere was better than here.

* * *

"Maybe try and be a bit more considerate Finn" Mercedes started slowly, trying to understand where he was coming from. "Rachel has always tried to look out for both Kurt and Blaine, and the fact that you don't really care is probably upsetting her. Just try and understand. She really wants things to get better for Blaine and they're obviously getting worse for him. Puck and Karofsky are obviously deciding to purposefully seek out making his life a living hell, and you know Rachel. She wants to help. And it's really making her angry that there's so little she can do. So just try and understand and help her out okay? Tell her it'll be okay even when it won't. Tell her things will get better. Help her find some way to feel okay about all of this. And then help Kurt and Blaine. Stick up for them more. Try and make Karofsky and Puck realize that it's dangerous for them to mess with your friends." Mercedes said the last piece with a smile. Despite never being the "big man on campus" or even that much of a jock, Finn could always scare people. He was the tallest person in Hogwarts, and despite not being a great athlete, his arms still looked incredibly strong, and so yeah, Finn could scare people. And he didn't ever even try.

"I just don't know Mercedes. I mean, Kurt's more of you and Rachel's friends than mine. We've never been close or anything, I'm just dating Rachel so I hang out with you guys and I guess we're friends, but this shit has been happening with Blaine for awhile. I thought we were all used to it. But Rachel just randomly goes crazy and acts like I'm some heartless wretch for not crying about it. I mean, I stop them whenever I catch them in the act. I just don't seek out conflict with them. You saw what happened to Kurt today. He's getting into trouble right now because he just stepped in and tired to stop them from absolutely destroying Blaine. And I don't know, I don't want to have to worry about getting in trouble and stuff. Blaine always jumps back up after a few days, I mean, he's always alright. I just don't get why Rachel makes such a big deal out of this crap. That's what they want. They want a scared response, and I just refuse to act on that." Finn said all really fast. He didn't know at what point arguing with Rachel started to really get to him. He hated arguing with her and feeling like he couldn't change things. Maybe he just cared for her too much. Maybe he was scared to lose her. He didn't really know.

Mercedes moved to the chair across from him and grabbed his hands, giving them a tight squeeze. "Go and tell her that Finn. Don't just go around pretending you don't care or you don't think these things through. That's the impression she gets when you just stand around and don't say anything. Show you care. Show that you are really looking out for yourself and that you have thought all of this through. She needs to know that. Talk to her. That's all you need to do. Just talk" Mercedes finished with another small squeeze. "I know you can do it"

Finn looked up at her and let his lips show a small tweak upwards. "You know what? You're right". Finn stood up and moved towards the Fat Lady with a determined bounce in his stride.

"I love her right? That's enough" he said quite lamely and Mercedes rolled her eyes and his attempted romantic gesture. Sometimes boys really just didn't get it.

* * *

"So, how do we stop them?"

Sam spat out the orange juice he had just sipped and looked sideways at Rachel with a quizzical expression.

"I'm sorry, first off, we? And second, who?" Rachel came off as a bit strong headed and it bothered Sam a bit. He didn't really know why she ticked him off, she was just so, loud. And assumptive.

Rachel rolled her eyes and pulled the toast out of Sam's hand as he was about to eat it. "Puck and Karofsky! Blaine's your best friend. Don't you want to do something? Kurt's one of my best friends and I like Blaine, so I think something should be done."

Sam was still looking at the piece of toast that Rachel had yanked out of his hand with an unbelievable expression on his face. "Did you just physically stop me from eating my food?" Sam asked, clearly aghast.

Rachel ignored him and kept on talking. "We should start an anti-bullying campaign and appeal to McGonagall to ensure that Kurt and Blaine don't get any blame from this sordid affair"

Sam sat back, getting more annoyed by the second. "Rachel. Come on. It's not our place. Blaine's the type of person who will ask for help if he needs it, which is rare. I don't know about Kurt, but I'm assuming he doesn't seek out attention or help unless he needs it either. Just, calm down Rachel. You're being a bit presumptive" Sam moved to stand up from the long table, but Rachel put her hands on both of his shoulders, softly, and looked at him.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I know I can be loud and obnoxious, but it's because I care. Please know that I don't mean to cause drama, it just sort of moves towards me. I just want to help fix things. Okay?"

Rachel was looking at him with big Bambi eyes so against his better judgment, Sam sat back down. Rachel placed her hand on top of his. "Thanks" she said with a smile.

Sam rolled his eyes, in a less angry way than before, more of a bemused way.

From the entrance of the Great Hall, Finn looked as his girlfriend gave Sam her grateful look with her hands on top of his.

* * *

"Well that sucked" Puck said as he jumped over the back of the couch and landed next to Quinn as she poured over her Potions book. "What's wrong? Homework on the first day?" he asked.

Quinn didn't look up from her book as she said, "No thanks to you" in a haughty voice.

Puck threw an arm around her and gave her a squeeze. "Come on Quinn, don't be angry"

Quinn rolled her eyes and closed her book before turning her head towards Puck, a slightly distraught look on her face. "Because of your little run-in, Slughorn had to give us homework since we were missing class. So now I need to do this and try not to think about whatever dumb punishment you got."

Quinn turned back to her book and reopened it, skimming through her past notes as well as the chapter assigned. Puck looked over her facial lines as they crinkled in between confusion and upset. He gave her shoulder a small squeeze after a minute and asked, a little teasingly, "you're not even a little curious?"

Quinn rolled her eyes in a very bemused manner. "Out with it Puckerman. What's your sentence?" she said, turning to him with a solitary eyebrow raised.

"Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. No big deal."

Quinn's eyebrow raised a little bit higher as she leaned towards him. "Aren't there _spiders_ in there?"

Puck looked at her closely as she leaned in, trying to show no emotion as she laced the word spiders with every ounce of a knowing secret that she had. "Yeah" he said, not letting himself say anything else.

Suddenly Quinn started tickling him violently and he burst out simultaneously laughing and screaming. "And aren't you scared of spiders Puck?" she said, laughing at his pain as she tickled him even harder.

Puck managed to shout out in between gasping, pained breaths, "Yes! Alright! Stop it!"

Quinn leaned back and turned again to her Potions book, mumbling under her breath, "Yeah. That's what I thought"

"Would you two just fuck already?" asked Santana in her armchair at the far side of the room, evidently pissed about something.

"'Cause Lopez, not all of us have the luxury of fucking everything we see" Puck spat at her.

Santana smiled because she knew she had struck a nerve. "Could've fooled me" she mumbled. After all, Puck was more well known for the player persona than she was. But still, he'd never landed the queen bee.

"You can leave now Santana" Quinn said, her tone kind enough but her eyes glaring hard.

"Where do you want me to go?" Santana asked, honestly confused.

"The library. Cafeteria. Hufflepuff House. I don't give a damn" Quinn said, returning to pour over her notes.

Santana grabbed her stuff and left the house rapidly through the entrance, bumping into Karofsky.

"Have fun in the Forbidden Forest" she said sarcastically as she passed him.

Karofsky said nothing in return as his eyes followed her angry stride out of Slytherin.

* * *

"Blaine! How are you? Are you okay? What happened?" Mercedes said, her words flowing without an end.

Blaine smiled and put a hand up, trying to get her to stop talking.

Mercedes smiled and took a deep breath. "Sorry. Just—What happened?" she asked, calmly curious this time.

"Detention in the forest with Puck, Karofsky, and Kurt" Blaine said, fairly emotionless. Except when he said Kurt's name.

"Blaine." Mercedes said with a slight momma-bear tone. "What's up?"

Blaine looked at Mercedes, slowly chewing over his words in his mouth. "You're friends with Kurt… Why do you think he jumped in to save me?"

Mercedes looked at Blaine's curious expression and smiled knowingly. She knew what more than just curiosity looked like. "He's a nice guy Blaine. He wouldn't just stand there and let you get beat up. He cares about people. He likes to help out"

Blaine just nodded knowingly and looked at the wall opposite him, clearly thinking. "I got that feeling" he said, not noticing the smile creeping slowly onto his lips.

Mercedes looked towards him and giggled before poking him in the chest. "You like him!" she said laughing in a very second year type of way. She'd known both Kurt and Blaine for a long time, but she hadn't realized until now that neither of them really knew each other.

Blaine looked at her, his eyes opened wider than before. "No I don't!" he exclaimed, the color slowly rising in his cheeks.

Mercedes laughed even louder and started singing "_Kurt and Blaine sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G_—"

"Mercedes, shhh… Stop, stop" Blaine looked around the common room as several heads turned their way. "Okay, shut up, right now". Mercedes stopped singing, but her laughter was still at a very high octave. Blaine tried to distract her with his ignorance of the Muggle world. "What're you even singing? Who the hell sings things like that?"

Mercedes laughter had died down relatively but she still giggled like a little girl in between her words. "Oh come on, anyone who's ever been around kids knows that song" she said with a teasing smile.

"Muggle kids maybe" Blaine said, a little dejected by his ignorance.

But it had at least distracted her.

"Well well well, big wizard boy, magical parents pulled you out of school, you're so cool…." Mercedes teased him with a smile.

Blaine rolled his eyes, both proud and embarrassed. Proud of his ability to distract a big gossip-mongerer like Mercedes, and embarrassed that someone finally discovered his secret.

* * *

Kurt was walking back towards his house with a bit of an arrogant air in his step. Not a bad arrogant, but definitely a happy one. He didn't know why Blaine made him feel this way, but he did. Blaine had thanked him repeatedly, and for once in his life, Kurt felt really special and important to someone. Blaine seemed honest. And true. And Kurt liked that a lot.

He felt dumb practically skipping through the halls, but he had to say, he felt _good_. And he liked feeling like this.

But Kurt was drawn away from the happiness in his stride when he passed a statue and heard what sounded like quiet sobs. Kurt stopped in his path and turned around to see Brittany leaning against the side of the statue that was facing him. Her books were next to her and her knees were pulled up to her chest, her head laying on them.

Kurt looked at the piece of her face that he could see and saw that there were tears tracked over almost all of it.

Despite not knowing her, and despite the fact that her friends had just landed him a trip to the Forbidden Forest, he felt bad for Brittany. She didn't seem the type of person to deserve whatever was making her cry.

He bent down in front of her and place a hand on her knee. She looked up surprised with red eyes. "Hey Britt—" Kurt said with a sympathetic smile. He moved her books and sat down next to her as he place an arm around her shoulders. "Why don't you tell me about it?" Kurt said, giving her shoulders a tight squeeze.

Brittany raised her hand to her face and wiped the tears away. "I'm fine. I'm just—" Brittany started to sob again. "I got lost okay? I don't know where I am because I'm just—I'm so frustrated and confused and angry and sad and… And I'm alone." Brittany looked up at Kurt.

"I'm alone".

Kurt just looked at her not really knowing what to say. He could easily guess who this was about, but he didn't want to say it out right.

"You have friends, Britt. I know you do"

Brittany's reply was enough to answer Kurt's real question. "Only Santana's allowed to call me Britt" she said with a soft smile.

So Kurt was right. He continued to smile at her and he just said, "She'll come to Brittany. I know she will. You can't both stay mad forever".

Brittany laid her head on Kurt's shoulder.

"I hope you're right".

* * *

_Next time in the Wizarding World of New Directions:_

_Kurt, Blaine, Puck, and Karofsky finally take their collective detentions in the Forbidden Forest and find out several things about each other within their time there._

_Tina tries to tell Artie about her feelings while also trying to win Mike back and decide for herself what she really wants._

_Santana and Brittany continue to have issues, and also try to determine where to go from where they are._

_Finn tries to figure out what's happening between Sam and Rachel while also talking to Mercedes to try and figure out what to do with Blaine's bullying situation._

_And Quinn tries something new for a change. _


	17. Into the Woods

_Author's Note: Once again, I'd like to start off this chapter by sincerely thanking all of you who leave me your sweet reviews and words of encouragement. Getting those messages is one of the main reasons I continue to do this fic, in addition to just loving writing it… _

_I don't have much to add in regards to this specific chapter, I'd just like to say once again that really, if you have _any_ modifications or things you'd like to see me change, let me know. There is a great likelihood that I will change things in order to make them more geared towards what you'd like to see from this story, but I can't change things if you don't ask me to. So please, tell me honestly what you dislike so I can make sure it doesn't appear again._

_All else aside, I'm writing this chapter while I watch the Pacific for the first time, so I hope that that doesn't reflect the writing. Because it'd be super morbid. With all of the death and such._

_Once again, thanks to everyone continuing to read and review. Your messages warm my heart._

* * *

_A/N edit: I'm grading their papers on the wizard scale, obviously. So no, an "A" is not a good grade. It's an "Acceptable"_

_A/N edit (2): For the last quarter of this chapter, the story is focused around Blaine, Kurt, Puck, and Karofsky just so that their storyline can get resolved. So I'm sorry if the POV switch-overs are kind of bad in this one._

* * *

Rachel sat in her usual armchair in Gryffindor Tower, skim-reading her Arithmancy notes. She needed the extra prep-time before their test today, and even though Rachel Berry had never failed a test in the history of her attendance at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she sure as hell wasn't going to start now. And besides Charms, Arithmancy had always been her strong suit. She beat everyone in her year at all subjects actually, everyone accept one extremely proactive Gryffindor.

"Hey Rach! How goes the studying?" Blaine said with a broad grin, jumping over the back of the couch and landing in the middle cushion. His Arithmancy textbook was in hand, but he didn't have his own notebook of notes to look at.

"Fine. I'm just trying to catch up on all our work from last year. It seems impossible that I could have forgotten it all so fast" Rachel said with a smile, her gaze never leaving the notes she was now reading with more attention to detail. "Why don't you have your notes?" she asked, a little confused that he only had his book. He may be smart, but not smart enough to ace a test without reading his own notes.

"I gave them to Sam. He's pretty lost" Blaine said, flipping to the center of his book and starting to read the contents on the page.

Rachel bit her lip and looked up at Blaine. It was Friday now, and it'd been five days since Karofsky and Puck had decided to beat up Blaine. And Blaine seemed fine, but he had a bruise between his shoulder and neck, and another bruise opposite that one directly on his neck. Blaine didn't appear to notice, or even care, but it was starting to upset Rachel. Until Kurt had stepped in, no one really stood up for Blaine. Puck had been after him since his first year at the school, and nothing had changed. Blaine still refused to quit the Quidditch team, and he never turned in the Slytherins, it was always Sam who went to McGonagall.

"Rachel? Are you okay?" Blaine asked, his attention focused on Rachel's unwavering gaze.

Rachel gave Blaine a sort of grimace, and she asked him, "Are _you_ okay Blaine? It's Friday, you know what that means right?"

Blaine smiled at Rachel's obvious tone of concern. "Yeah, Rach, I know what Friday means" he said with a smile.

Rachel was confused now, Blaine didn't seemed scared at all. "You're not worried? Or nervous? Not even a little bit?" she asked, her brow furrowed with apprehension. She had to admit, if she was going to have to spend a few hours in the Forbidden Forest, she'd be a little more than anxious. She'd be terrified.

Blaine's smile didn't fall when Rachel continued to pester him and he still reviewed his notes when he answered her. "No Rachel, I'm not too worried. It's going to be fine. I've snuck in there with Sam before and it's not anything to scary. As long as you don't run into the centaurs or anything that knows who Aragog was" Blaine said offhandedly.

"Aragog?" Rachel asked, a little scared to hear his answer.

"Hagrid's old acromantula. Died back when Harry Potter used to go here." Blaine said.

Rachel shivered with disgust. She _hated_ spiders. Especially large ones. She couldn't imagine having to deal with anything as horrible as that, and she couldn't understand how Blaine wasn't worried at all. But still, she didn't want to scare him, he did seem fine after all.

"Blaine? Apparently Sam has been berating the Fat Lady for the last hour to let him in here" Finn said suddenly coming from the portrait hole at the front of Gryffindor Tower followed by a clearly frazzled Sam Evans.

"Dude! What happened to you?" Blaine asked, dropping his textbook on the table, is concern for his friend overshadowing his need to study. The sight of Blaine running over to Sam and grabbing the Artihmancy notes from him that were clearly stressing him out, made Rachel smile. Their friendship was probably her favorite to watch out of all of the friendships she'd seen progress over the years at Hogwarts. They always had each other's backs, and Blaine's dedication to tutoring Sam was legendary. Sam had struggled almost as bad as Brittany from day one. But Blaine had always helped him. It helped that Blaine was number one in their year, but still, helping Sam took up almost all of his time.

"None of this makes any _fucking_ sense!" Sam yelled, smacking the notes out of Blaine's hands onto the floor. Sam had a habit of throwing notes around whenever he got upset.

"Hey, hey, Sam, look at me" Blaine said, grabbing his friend's shoulders and looking straight into his eyes. "Come on. You can do this. These tests always seem more difficult than they really are. Professor Abbott always makes them seem worse than they are so we study more" Blaine said when Sam finally looked at him.

"I know, I know. It's just, I don't understand anything!" Sam yelled out in frustration yet again.

Blaine took a deep breath and tried to keep his smile up for his friend. "Sam. You're going to be fine. I know you studied all night, and I know that you understand the material. I know you do! Please stop trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. You're better than this. Please stop trying to convince yourself you're not."

It really hurt Blaine to see his friend struggle so much. And Sam had always had trouble. Blaine tried to convince him that everything would be fine, and sometimes, he believed his own words. But the truth was, Sam could study all night, all week, and barely scrape up an A. Blaine wouldn't study at all and at least get an E. And Blaine always felt guilty.

Sam looked at Blaine with an almost final sort of desperate look in his eyes. "Help?" he asked with a sort of small smile begging him for any sort of assistance with his studying.

Blaine bent down and picked up the notes that were scattered on the ground. When he stood back up he just patted Sam on the shoulder and said, "Library".

He and Sam walked out of Gryffindor leaving Finn and Rachel behind them.

Rachel looked after them with her unflinching smile. She was glad that Blaine had been able to have a friend for so long that didn't care that he was gay and was always willing to find help when Puck decided it was time to beat up Blaine again.

* * *

Mike stared at the dozing figure in the canopy bed for a few seconds before a devilish idea entered his head. He gave a sort of maniacal smile as he gave Kurt a hard shove out of the bed and he hit the floor with a hard smack.

"What the _hell_ was that for?" Kurt asked, rubbing his head furiously and attempting to untangle himself from his sheets as he stood up.

Mike smiled and shrugged. "It's Forbidden Forest day" he said with a laugh, playfully shoving Kurt's shoulder and moving towards his own closet to get ready for the day.

Kurt grumbled to himself and moved towards his own trunk, rummaging around for his tie. Mike grabbed the tie of the bedpost and handed it to Kurt.

Kurt grabbed it and mumbled a "thanks" before grabbing his robes out of the trunk.

"So, you ready for tonight? Like seriously though, you don't know any of these guys. Who says they won't leave you there to rot or whatever? Have you even thought about it at all?" Mike asked as he pulled a sweater over his head.

Kurt frowned a little when he gave it a moment of consideration. "Blaine's not like that. I can tell."

Mike paused while he was tying his shoe to look up at Kurt's transfixed expression. "How? You don't know him at all" he said, giving Kurt a questioning look with just his eyebrow.

"I don't know. He's different" Kurt said with a smile, looking down at his own untied laces.

Mike smiled because he got it now. It made sense. Kurt had a crush. The rosy color slowly rising his cheeks was enough evidence of that, and Mike was glad. He and Kurt may not have been all that close, but it made him happy to know that Kurt might have found someone. It seemed strange to him that the only two gay guys in their grade hadn't met yet, but now that he thought about it, it made sense. Kurt and Blaine had that same sort of curious outlook on life and the same optimism towards everything they did.

And Mike was glad. It was rare that he ever heard Kurt talk about anything with such a spark of energy in his voice. And it made him happy to hear it.

"So how long have you had a crush on him?" Mike asked offhandedly turning towards his dresser to pull out a scarf.

Kurt suddenly looked up surprisingly flustered. "What—I don't know what you mean… I mean—I don't know him. Like at all. We just met, like barely, and I— I just,"

Mike was laughing now. "Look at you man! You're like head over heels! What did this boy do to you?" he said with a broad grin.

Kurt just continued to blush and move around his trunk, trying to find what he wanted to wear.

"Shut up" he said jokingly as he grabbed his backpack and walked out of the room. Mike just smiled and followed him.

Tina was waiting for him in the common room, her Potions notes spread across the table. Mike cursed under his breath as he sat down next to her. "We have a test don't we?" he asked with a hint of resentment. He already knew the answer.

"More like a quiz, but yeah, we do" she said not looking up from her notes.

Mike pulled his notes out of his own bag and begin to study alongside his girlfriend. He brought his right hand to intertwine with the fingers in Tina's left, and he glanced over. He saw the left side of her mouth twinge slightly upward. He turned back to his own notes with a broad smile on his face.

Things seemed almost close to normal.

* * *

Brittany spun her fork through her giant heap of scrambled eggs without ever actually lifting the food to her mouth. She felt like she hadn't eaten in days, but she still didn't want to actually feed her body the eggs. She didn't want to feel anything.

She hadn't talked to Santana in four days, easily the longest break they'd ever taken in their friendship. And it was breaking her heart. Brittany was a nice girl, and everybody in the school knew she had a sweet disposition and was generally light hearted. But she didn't actually make friends because of this. She didn't have any friends other than Santana.

Sam and Artie had been nice all week. They'd been sweet and studied with her and talked to her, and asked her how she was doing. But it wasn't the same as Santana. Nothing was the same anymore.

"Hey Britt!"

Brittany perked up at the sound of her nickname and turned with a smile on her face towards the source. She was instantly let down when she saw Artie walking towards her, his backpack strap cutting into his shoulder from the sheer weight of all the books he was carrying. They had their Arithmancy test today after all.

"Oh, hi" Brittany said with a downcast expression, turning back to her breakfast instead of turning towards her fellow Hufflepuff.

"What's wrong?" Artie asked, a confused expression on his face, as he sat down next to Brittany and shoveled some bacon onto his plate.

"Same old same old" Brittany said without any emotion to her words. She was still tired. She was tired of caring, and she was tired of pretending to care about things she didn't care about.

And it didn't help when Santana walked into the Great Hall with Quinn and Puck. Puck was walking in the middle, one arm around each of the girls, both of them laughing at something the tall Slytherin had said. Quinn had her arm around Puck's waist, and Santana's hand was intertwined with the hair in his Mohawk. Puck leaned over and gave Santana a kiss on the cheek, and Santana smiled playfully at him, her fingers slowly moving to the nape of his neck as they sat down with Quinn.

And Brittany knew this pattern all too well. Every time Santana was upset or angry or just overall disgruntled with her way of life, she would start dating Puck again. Not really dating. Just, well. Brittany sighed. Just screwing around.

She looked over at Santana as the latina turned towards her. Santana's eyes looked sad, but the smirk on her face was teasing and playful. She turned away from Brittany and back to the breakfast table.

Santana didn't know why she acted like this. She didn't know why she had this desperate need to be, well, to be needed. She always felt this sick desperate urge to have everyone looking at her, wanting her, objectifying her. And Santana hated herself.

Ever since she had come to Hogwarts, Brittany had helped her. Helped her feel like she was important. When she was with Brittany, she felt like she was someone. Someone worth something.

So now that Brittany wasn't speaking to her, Santana felt lost. She hated that she couldn't just apologize. But for once in her life, she didn't want to apologize anymore. She'd always felt like she could be herself around Brittany, and now, Brittany wanted her to apologize for that.

And she refused to this time. She needed Brittany to accept her for herself. That's why she'd always loved Brittany. She didn't need to understand Santana, but she'd always accepted her until now. Now, Brittany was asking a ton of questions, demanding answers to things that Santana didn't know the answer to. Santana didn't like to have to solve the problems of her life, why she starved for attention and why she needed to be needed. And now that Brittany was asking for answers, it was making Santana nervous.

She didn't need this, she didn't want it. So she hadn't talked to Brittany in five days.

And she missed her. More than anything.

But she wasn't ready. She didn't want to face the things about herself that she didn't like. And Brittany was asking her to do just that. She wasn't ready.

* * *

Santana had stood up from the table suddenly and walked away. Puck watched her go with a smirk on his face. The skirt she was wearing today was just short enough to still leave a little to the imagination, but to still give a lot to reality.

Puck felt Quinn punch him playfully in the arm from his left side, and he turned to face her, placing his elbow on the table and leaning his head onto his hand with a smile across his face.

"What's up Fabray?" he asked.

"You're just so, transparent" she said huffily, shoveling food into her mouth before they had to head off to Herbology.

Puck knew she was mad he was seeing Santana again, but Quinn was always mad at him about something.

"Don't tell me you're jealous Fabray?" he said with a smirk.

Quinn turned to face him, an unamused expression set across her face. "Puck. Please don't date her" she said, sounding genuinely honest.

Puck was confused. Quinn had always been his best friend, but she'd never really had great issue with any of his girlfriends. She'd disapproved and disagreed with his choices, but she hadn't straight up told him not to date any of them. And now she was. Something had changed.

Puck sat up and looked at Quinn with an imploring gaze. "Why?"

Quinn sighed and picked her bag off of the seat next to her. She stood up and turned to Puck, "Forget I said anything" she said, a little bit sad, unless Puck was mistaken, before she walked out of the Great Hall.

And Puck was more confused than ever.

Dave passed Quinn at the entrance of the hall as he made his way to Puck. Puck rolled his eyes. He didn't really feel like dealing with Karofsky right now, especially considering their detention tonight. Still, he'd have to rely on him to survive the night, considering his massive, but not well-known, fear of spiders and the fact that neither Hummel nor Anderson would be very helpful in ensuring they didn't kill him. Puck needed someone to watch his back, and Dave could do that.

"Better grab some breakfast man, we gotta long day ahead of us" Puck said to Dave as he filled his plated with sausages and toast.

Karofsky sat down next to him and scooped some eggs onto his plate.

"I still cannot believe we have to go into the damn forest. I am so beyond pissed off. Especially with the fucking fairy dust twins" Karofsky mumbled through his bites of food. Puck nodded and looked towards the entrance.

"Speak of the devil" he said, nudging Karofsky's shoulder.

Kurt walked into the Great Hall with Mercedes' arm linked with his. He was glad he'd caught up with her at the stairs. Who knew how much time they'd get together today, what with not having any classes together, in addition to the fact that he had to serve his first detention he'd ever received at Hogwarts.

"So Kurt, you ready for tonight" Mercedes asked, evidently concerned.

Kurt rolled his eyes and squeezed Mercedes' hand. "Yeah, I am. It'll be fine. Mike already teased me about it this morning" Kurt added, giving his friend a smile.

They sat down at the Gryffindor table and Mercedes looked at him quizzically. "Teased? He teased you about having to go into the Forbidden Forest. He knows you're scared of spiders" Mercedes asked, a little confused as to why Mike would have chosen to be cruel to Kurt.

It was at this point that Kurt realized he'd let slip about Mike discovering his crush, and knowing Mercedes, the second she knew, everyone would too. "Uh, no. He didn't tease me about that. Let's talk about something else" Kurt said hurriedly, determined to throw Mercedes off of the gossip trail. He should've known better than to try and deflect her attention from the topic. That only made her more curious.

"What'd he tease you about? Kurt! You better tell me right now!" Mercedes said, a little demanding, but for his own sake. Kurt started blushing and he opened his mouth to make up some story or to try and convince her it was a slip of the tongue. But she knew already. It was too late.

"Kurt. I know something is up, and you better tell me right now. If you tell me now, I promise I won't tell anyone else, but I will get it out of you eventually, and I can't promise not to tell everyone later…" she threatened.

Kurt sighed and rolled his eyes. There really was no convincing Mercedes. Gossip went to her like bees to honey and Kurt knew there really was no stopping her once she knew there was a secret to be found.

"What do you know about Blaine? I mean, I know he's in your house and all, and I think maybe you're friends. He was really nice to me in McGonagall's, and I don't know, I guess I'm just…" Kurt stopped at Mercedes wide grin.

"You _like_ him!" she said, almost yelling.

Kurt looked around wildly and shushed Mercedes. The Great Hall may not have been full, but her loud voice still turned a few heads.

"Mercedes! I do. Not. Like. Him. I just wanted to know what you know about him! Calm down!" Kurt was lying through his teeth, but he hoped he could quiet Mercedes at least a little. When she got hysterical, she remained so.

Mercedes just continued to chuckle to herself and mumbled, "If only you knew you perfectly unaware person you" as she playfully poked Kurt.

Kurt was confused now. He really had no idea what she meant. "What're you talking about?"

She just continued to smile and said, "It's better if you find out yourself".

* * *

"Alright Finn, just please tell me what you're so pissed about!" Rachel yelled at Finn, who was currently storming away from her. "What is _wrong_ with you?"

Finn didn't really know how to explain why he was so mad. He was just pissed off. Rachel had been running off to Sam more and more lately to talk about her problems, and Finn was left to wonder why.

"I don't know Rach, why don't you ask yourself that?" Finn spat at her. He'd never really had a way with words, and anything he said rarely made sense to others.

"What?" Rachel asked, evidently puzzled and even more frustrated by his inability to voice his issues. "Finn, just tell me why you're mad at me. Use your _words_" Rachel said, pleading Finn to articulate his big huge problem.

Finn spun around to face Rachel, just 20 feet from the entrance of the Great Hall. "Why don't you just get Sam to explain it to you?" Finn yelled at her angrily.

"How would Sam know what the hell you're so—oh." Rachel realized what this was about now. "Are you really upset because I've been talking to Sam about Blaine and Kurt?" Rachel asked Finn, realizing his jealousy.

"Yeah, okay? It kind of hurts my feelings when you don't come to me with this stuff. I know it's not cool for guys to get jealous but we do okay? I don't like it when you don't tell me your problems" Finn mumbled to the ground.

Rachel grabbed his hand that was hanging to his side and looked him in the eyes. "Listen, Finn. I just went to him because, to be honest, you kind of blew me off on Monday. I was worried about Kurt and I didn't know what to do. Sam listened. Sam understood. He was concerned for Blaine because of the same reasons. He listened okay? Just because I don't tell you _everything_ doesn't mean you need to get jealous" Rachel smiled at Finn and gave him a hug. "I love _you_ alright? Not Sam" she added, hoping to reassure Finn.

"I saw you two in the Great Hall that day" Finn murmured, not returning Rachel's hug.

Rachel pulled back and glared at him. "What do you mean, 'you saw us'? Saw us what?"

"I saw you give him a look and touch his hand okay? It looked romantic alright? It didn't look plaphonic or whatever"

"Platonic" Rachel corrected him, a natural reflex at this point.

"Yeah. Platonic" Finn repeated.

Rachel took a deep breath and rubbed her temple with her hand. "I can't really deal with this right now. I have a test later and Kurt has his detention tonight, and I can't really handle you getting jealous for no reason alright? We can talk tomorrow" she said, moving past him and walking into the Great Hall. Finn watched her leave and sit down with Kurt and Mercedes, who then proceeded to give her comforting pats and throw a few glares at Finn.

Finn just sighed and turned to go back towards Gryffindor Tower.

But Sam and Blaine were already standing there.

Sam looked at Blaine, who just smiled at him and shrugged his shoulders.

Sam looked back at Blaine and gave a small smiled.

"Well. This is awkward."

* * *

Brittany didn't know why she chose to follow Santana out of the Great Hall. It took her a few minutes, but she did eventually follow her. Things had been so awkward between them, and it really hurt Brittany that they were slowly getting farther apart. But Brittany hadn't really considered that this was forever. She knew she'd get Santana back. They'd be friends again, they had to be.

Brittany didn't have anyone else.

Santana was about 100 feet left of the Great Hall entrance, and Brittany saw her sitting against the wall with her knees up to her chest.

Brittany stood at the entrance, and she didn't know if she wanted to talk to her, or leave her there to feel the pain she'd been feeling.

"Hey Brittany" a voice from behind her said.

Brittany turned around to see Kurt smiling at her.

"Hi Kurt"

Kurt took a step closer to Brittany and looked to his left where he too could see Santana. He looked back to Brittany and gave her a small smile.

"What're you going to do B?" he asked, honestly just wanting to know.

Brittany frowned and looked at Kurt. Kurt had helped her earlier, maybe he could help her now.

"What _should _I do Kurt?" she asked him imploringly, begging him for an answer. Her eyes were beginning to tear up again and she cursed her emotions silently, hoping Kurt wouldn't judge her for being so emotionally weak.

But Kurt just hugged her and whispered, "It's up to you".

And Brittany hugged him back, wishing she knew what was supposed to happen next.

* * *

"So tell me Blaine? How come you're getting into trouble all of a sudden?" Hagrid asked Blaine as they walked from the entry way of Hogwarts towards his hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Blaine smiled up at the half-giant and shrugged. "Wrong place, wrong time" he said with a smirk.

"You know what? You remind me a lot of a student that used to tell me excuses like that all the time" Hagrid said with a half-discipline, half-proud tone. "He was a seeker too"

"Oh really now?" Blaine said, curious.

Hagrid smiled down at the short Gryffindor and said, "Really now" as they reached his doorstep.

"The other miscreants should be here in about 5 minutes. Why are you so damn early?" Hagrid grumbled.

"I guess I just hoped that I could get a clue as to what we're doing tonight" Blaine said with a knowing smile.

Hagrid laughed and said, "Yeah alright."

Blaine sat down on the stool outside Hagrid's door as Hagrid arranged some stuff on his porch.

"We got two things we gotta do. First off, we gotta clean up the outskirts of the Acromantula habitat. They're spreading and messing stuff up around their home, and so we gotta clean some of that up. Second, the centaurs have asked that I clean up a little nest of boggarts that are nestled in some tree or sumthin and we gotta help them out, so we're gonna do that too. I figured two of you can come with me and handle the centaurs and then two of you can go by yourselves to do the spider stuff" Hagrid explained.

"You'll want to keep an eye on the Slytherins I suppose?" Blaine asked.

"Somethin like that" Hagrid said with a smile. "That leaves you and Kurt to the acromantulas"

Blaine smiled to himself, a little selfish that he'd get to spend more time with Kurt. And Hagrid didn't miss it.

"Oh-ho! What's got you so excited?" Hagrid asked, playfully shoving Blaine in the shoulder hard enough to knock him off the stool.

"Nothing" Blaine said smirking as he stood up off the ground. The last person in the world he needed to know about his crush was Hagrid. If Mercedes was a bad secret keeper, well, Hagrid was just worse. There wasn't really a good metaphor for it.

"Fine," Hagrid said. "Keep your secrets. Hope you have fun with the spiders" he continued before heading into his hut to grab some more supplies.

Blaine just smiled as he looked after his half-giant friend. Next to Sam, Hagrid was the best friend he had on campus, and Blaine didn't regret that at all.

"Is Hagrid here yet?" a voice asked Blaine from next to him.

Blaine turned to see Kurt standing there, horrendously overdressed for the trip to the woods they were about to take.

"Uh, yeah. He's just grabbing his crossbow" Blaine said, turning to face Kurt.

They both sat there in silence for a few seconds.

"So, um. I guess I should thank you again" Blaine said.

"For what?" Kurt asked him honestly.

"For sticking up for me. And not getting mad that you had to come out here. And for being generally great about all of this" Blaine said, averting his gaze to the floor.

Kurt smiled to himself before saying, "No problem".

"It won't be so bad. We just have to clean up some of the perimeter of the acromantula habitat" Blaine said absentmindedly, picking at the weathered stool he was sitting on.

Kurt froze up instantly and stared, awestruck, at Blaine. "Acromantulas? As in spiders?"

"Yeah. Giant ones" Blaine said without noticing Kurt's increasingly terrified expression.

Kurt just nodded despite the fact no one was looking at him. Well shit. This was going to be the worst experience of his life.

"What's got you piss scared Hummel?" asked Puck, coming from the school as he clapped Kurt on the shoulder.

Kurt grimaced before turning to Puck and saying, "Nothing."

"Sounds like nothing" Puck said laughing, moving to the opposite side of the porch with Karofsky.

Kurt just rolled his eyes and ignored him. He sat down on the ground next to Blaine and waited for Hagrid to come out of his hut. He just needed this night to be over. He felt Blaine's hand rest on his shoulder and give him a squeeze of comfort. Kurt looked up at him and smiled when he saw Blaine smiling at him.

"You boys ready?" Hagrid asked as he came out of the cabin.

* * *

Kurt was walking very close behind Blaine as they navigated their way towards the acromantula habitat that Hagrid had described. Kurt was trying to keep his cool because he liked this Blaine character very very much, and he didn't want to freak out and start acting like a complete lunatic. But come on, spiders? Kurt was a little bit more than terrified. He hated _everything_ about spiders, and these spiders? They were supposed to be huge. Like really huge.

Kurt ran into Blaine when the shorter Gryffindor stopped suddenly on the path they were walking on.

"What?" Kurt hissed at Blaine when Blaine suddenly held his hand up telling Kurt to be quiet.

"Look" Blaine said pointing at the ground.

Kurt's eyes followed Blaine's finger to the spot he was pointing to on the ground.

There were literally _thousands_ of spiders crawling on the ground in the same direction as Kurt and Blaine.

"Guess we're getting closer" Blaine said, moving forward once again, being careful not to trod on any of the small spiders scuttling deeper into the forest.

But Kurt remained frozen in the same spot where he had been stopped. He couldn't move. The spiders were moving all around him, and Kurt was feeling fairly petrified.

It took Blaine about 15 seconds to realize that he couldn't feel Kurt behind him anymore.

Blaine turned around, searching for Kurt, and saw that he was standing about 20 feet back, hands plastered to his side, standing perfectly upright, and not moving.

Blaine walked back to where Kurt was standing and tried to catch his attention. "Hey Kurt? What's wrong?"

Kurt looked up at Blaine and said in a very small voice, "I don't like spiders."

Blaine smiled at him and said, "Might've mentioned that before we got to the acromantula hide out huh?"

Kurt just nodded and looked down, but not before Blaine saw that his eyes were brimmed with tears, the sort of terrified tears you get when you're stuck in your worst nightmare.

"Hey, Kurt." Blaine said. Kurt still wouldn't look up, so Blaine reached down and grabbed his hand. Kurt looked up and Blaine just said, "Come on. Courage" before pulling him along behind him as they made their way through the forest.

Kurt just smiled at the warm comfort of Blaine's hand around his.

* * *

"Well that was virtually pointless" Puck grumbled as he and Karofsky made their way back to Hagrid's hut with Hagrid following close behind them.

"Shut it Puckerman. No one asked you opinion" Hagrid said smacking Puck in the back of the head.

"Hey! You can't hit me! You're a teacher!" Puck said, rubbing the back of his head.

"And you're a miscreant who lands his ass in detention every other week. Who're they gonna believe?" Hagrid spat at Puck.

The rest of the walk was virtually quiet. The centaurs had been really easy to deal with, and the boggarts were relatively easy to take care of, and overall, detention didn't suck all that bad.

"You boys stay here until Anderson and Hummel get back" Hagrid mumbled as he went into his hut to make some tea.

"Wonder how long that'll take" Karofsky chuckled under his breath to a high five from Puck.

Hagrid paused in the doorway of his hut and turned to face Puck and Karofsky.

"You listen here boys, and you listen close. You may think you have a monopoly on this world or that you're superior by some sort of bizarre birthright, so let me be one of many to tell you; You are not special. You had a lot of potential to be the day you received your Hogwarts letters and you were shipped off to the greatest establishment of education for wizards in the world. And you lost all of that potential the day you decided to start bullying Blaine Anderson. I know this kid like I know my magical creatures, and he is special. You started bullying him because he got on the Quidditch team and he was good. Like really good. And he got you beat Puckerman. So that pissed you off, I understand. What I don't understand is why you didn't just work harder to beat him on the field instead of working so hard to beat him up off of it. You're a coward Puck, and it's no wonder that this boy is ten times the man you'll ever be. Same goes for you Karofsky. You're even more of a coward because you won't even stand up for your own cause. You just follow your friend's in the hope it'll one day make sense to you. Both of you are cowards and one day you'll wake up to discover that you're not the biggest and the baddest. You'll be the weakest and the dumbest. And no one will be left to fear you. You'll no longer be able to misinterpret that fear as respect. I feel sorry for you."

And Hagrid walked into his hut without another word.

Puck sat there for a minute, stunned.

He turned to Karofsky and said, "Fuck him".

Karofsky didn't say anything.

* * *

"I am never ever ever going back into that forest for as long as I live" Kurt said shuddering as they neared the perimeter of the forest.

"Come on you coward" Blaine said jokingly, still pulling Kurt behind him by the hand.

"I'm _sorry_" Kurt whined. "But there were _spiders_. And they were scary!"

They were walking side by side now, and Blaine noticed now that there was no reason for him to still be holding Kurt's hand. He withdrew his slowly and reluctantly, and unless he was mistaken, Kurt pulled his hand away the same way.

Hagrid's hut was within their sights now, and Blaine looked over at Kurt as they neared the house that had smoke coming out of the chimney.

"Well tonight was, fun" Blaine said rather reluctantly. "Never knew hanging out with a Ravenclaw could be so entertaining" he continued, bumping his shoulder into Kurt's lightly as they walked.

Kurt bit his lip to hide his smile and said, "Yeah. I had a good time. Despite being around my greatest fears and nightmares"

Blaine laughed. "Good to know that I can give you a good time. Despite all that"

Kurt looked at Blaine and smiled. "Yeah. Good to know."

Despite the fact that they were less than 20 feet from the hut, Blaine had the irresistible urge to turn to Kurt and just say it. The whole 'I've been looking for you forever' speech coupled with a grand gesture. Some big romantic thing. Kurt had said he'd had a good time right? Who's to say they couldn't have an infinite amount of great times together?

They were really close now, and Blaine could barely make out the shapes of Puck and Karofsky sitting on the porch.

"Wait, Kurt" Blaine said, grabbing Kurt's arm and pulling him away from the direction of the hut. "I want to tell you something"

Kurt looked up at him, palpably confused. "What?"

Blaine stood there and smiled. What was the worst that could happen?

* * *

_Next time on The Wizarding World of New Directions:_

_Finn and Rachel address their trust issues relating to Rachel's new friendship with Sam._

_Brittany and Santana finally have the conversation they've been putting off since the beginning of the year. _

_Quinn finds a new friend to turn to in order to figure out what to do about Puck._

_The first Quidditch game of the season brings problems for both Blaine and Puck._

_And obviously, we find out what happened after detention outside of Hagrid's hut._


	18. Down for the Count

_Author's Note: Hello everyone… Again. This chapter took me far too long to update, so I shall apologize profusely. I can make excuses about how I have been studying literally non-stop for my IB exams, or how I've been rushing to fill out my housing application for my dream school (which by the way is NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, I found out just two weeks ago that I got in), but I don't want to make excuses to you guys. Thanks for still reading this fic, those of you that have stuck around, and to all the newcomers, thanks for starting it. _

_I don't exactly have any comments pertaining to the story. I'm sorry I left the last chapter off on a cliffhanger, and I'll tell you right now, this is the longest chapter I've written so far. Besides that though, we get to see some Quidditch action, which is always awesome. _

_Because this chapter is the longest that I've published, I tried to involve the characters on more extended periods of time. You'll see new couples grow and old ones die while some friendships face strains and others get renewed. All plots left un-resolved will hopefully become resolved, while new plots will begin to develop. _

_One more thing. I'd like to offer a onetime offer only. If you have a ship or a pairing that you really really want to see happen, leave me a comment. I promise that the first two I get will have some interaction in the next chapter (I want to still keep you guys involved)_

_That being said, I write this story for my readers, so enjoy!_

* * *

"No no no no, there are _two_ bludgers and _two_ beaters! And the beaters have to keep the bludgers away from the _other _players, not just themselves" Sam said, a little frustrated.

"But then why do beaters sometimes hit the bludgers at other players. If they're supposed to protect them?" Brittany implored, clearly not getting the point.

Artie rolled his eyes and said, "Because Brittany, the point is to win, no matter the cost. If you get whacked by a bludger, there's a good chance that you're not going to play as well."

Brittany frowned and crossed her arms, leaning a little backwards from the large table she was eating her breakfast off of. "Sounds pretty violent to me".

"It's supposed to be Brittany, that's where all the fun is. It gets pretty boring for the crowd if we just watch them fly around and throw quaffles at goals." Sam pointed out.

"I thought they were supposed to catch the quaffle…" Brittany said slowly.

"No, the seekers try and catch the snitch, not the quaffle" Artie said with a tone reaching that of Sam's frustration.

"Whatever. I don't understand the point of a sport where you try and hurt your friends." Brittany continued, still frowning".

"Well Brittany, the Slytherins aren't exactly are friends now are they?" Blaine said, walking up behind Sam.

Brittany frowned even further at his comment and got up from the table, shoving her food away. She hurried herself to the other end of the Hufflepuff table as Blaine sat down across from Sam and Artie.

"Wow. Good job man. You know she's best friends with Santana right?" Sam said, glaring at Blaine.

Blaine, reaching for a roll, looked up and shrugged, shaking his head simultaneously. Sam rolled his eyes. Sometimes, Blaine really was oblivious.

Artie got up from the table. "I'm gonna go find Mike and Tina to try and get seats for the game. Good luck Blaine." Artie walked towards the Ravenclaw table while Sam and Blaine remained seated at the Hufflepuff one.

"Sorry. I honestly forgot about Brittany and Santana" Blaine said. "It's kind of second nature to me to assume that no one likes the Slytherins."

"No, you're right, it's fine. It's easy to assume everyone hates them because besides Brittany, everyone does." Sam said. "You probably hate them even more after yesterday."

Blaine gave a smile to himself. No, he did not hate the Slytherins more after yesterday. He barely spent anytime with them at all. Instead, he spent the entire night running around dark paths, holding Kurt's hand as he assured him that the acromantulas were drawn more to fear than to human flesh, something that, in the long run, only scared Kurt even more. Regardless, Blaine had spent the night helping the guy he'd had a crush on for years from getting too scared.

But just like that, the night had ended. Blaine had always told himself to have courage, and to not be afraid of anything, but at the end of the night, he choked. He wanted to tell Kurt how much he inspired him, and how he sometimes would catch himself staring for a moment too long, and how he wished that everytime Puck would pick on him Kurt would be right there, fighting by his side.

But Blaine didn't get the chance. Hagrid had come out of his cabin and gestured for Blaine and Kurt to join him and Blaine had to obey half-heartedly. As they had walked back to the cabin, Blaine's hand had brushed Kurt's and for a moment, Blaine cursed himself for being such a coward. But he caught a glimpse of Kurt's face and he smiled at him, and suddenly, Blaine felt that maybe, just maybe, he hadn't run out of chances.

"Dude." Sam said, snapping his fingers in front of Blaine's face.

"What?" Blaine asked, focusing his attention, once again, on his friend.

"I mentioned your detention and you just completely zoned out. What the hell were you thinking about?" Sam asked as he leaned back into his seat.

Blaine's eyes followed Kurt and Rachel as they made their way to where they were sitting and he said, "Nothing" as Kurt sat down next to him, and Rachel sat down next to Sam. Soon, Mercedes sat down next to Rachel and they were all wrapped up in discussions about the upcoming game, and how even though Kurt was in Ravenclaw and Sam in Hufflepuff, yes, they would both still cheer wholeheartedly for the Gryffindor team. Blaine spent the entire conversation stealing looks at Kurt who would give him a smile before turning back to the conversation.

And Blaine didn't know what to think of that.

Finn watched on from the Gryffindor table as his friends went on talking without a second thought of him. As Rachel moved her hand to squeeze Sam's bicep as she laughed at one of his jokes, Finn's grip on his fork grew tighter.

* * *

"Come on Lopez, don't pretend like you don't want to give me some" Puck whispered into Santana's ear, squeezing her ass as they walked down the staircase towards the Great Hall.

Santana turned towards him with a smirk and said, "I don't give it up to _losers_ Puckerman. Win today's game and we'll see"

Puck jumped down an extra step and landed in front of Santana, grinning widely at her. "Now you know that might be difficult with that wise-ass Anderson on their team. He hasn't lost yet."

Santana's smirk grew wider as she stepped down a step, close to Puck. "My point exactly"

Santana moved around Puck and continued down the stairs, Puck grumbled audibly and followed her, Quinn right behind the pair.

Quinn frowned to herself as they moved into the Great Hall, still bickering. Puck's advances were useless on Santana, and Quinn had the nagging feeling that she knew the real reason why as Santana passed Brittany sitting down at the Hufflepuff table, without a word. Quinn had to admit she didn't really understand the nature or the purpose of their relationship, but she knew they were both hurting. And Santana dealt with hurt by ignoring it. And sleeping with Puck. But this time she was more reluctant to, and that caused Quinn to rethink some things.

Quinn hated that Puck didn't _really_ notice her. True, he'd always treated her as his friend. His best friend. He didn't shamelessly flirt with her, well, at least not as much as other girls. And as much as he called himself a player and changed girlfriends every week, Quinn was never in that long line of short lived romances.

Not that Quinn minded, not at all. She liked to think that she was more than just a one hit wonder to Puck. Or a many hit wonder when it came to Santana. Regardless, Quinn liked to think that she was more important than that. And to Puck, it seemed that she was.

But that still left Quinn feeling relatively lonely. Puck was mindlessly chasing after Santana, and after her there would be some other girl. But Quinn didn't have anyone.

At least not yet. As Santana and Puck sat down at the Slytherin table, Quinn's eyes wandered across the Great Hall and landed on a solitary person sitting at the Gryffindor table. Quinn smiled as she noticed Finn sitting alone, without his hobbit of a girlfriend near him. Rachel was, as it seemed, sitting at the Hufflepuff, laughing it up and having a good time with that absurdly blonde kid.

Well then.

She heard Puck call after her as she made her way to the Gryffindor table, but she ignored him. Instead she sat down next to the ridiculously tall and bumbling Gryffindor who turned in surprise to see her sitting there.

"Um. Hi Quinn" Finn mumbled, turning to his food and pretending that he had been eating instead of staring after his girlfriend.

"Hi Finn" Quinn replied in as chipper a tone as she could muster. She followed his gaze to where it had previously been fixated and looked on as Rachel laughed a little too loudly at another of Sam's jokes. Though by the looks of the other patrons faces at the table, he might have just made a semi-humorous statement.

"Why aren't you with Puck and Santana?" Finn asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Oh, you know. Sometimes those two just get so," Quinn paused for a second as she considered the right word. "Couple-ly. It's hard to hang around your friends when they make you feel nauseous." Quinn finished as she turned her head to look at Finn.

"Sorry, can't say I know the feeling." Finn said as he scooped some eggs into his mouth.

Quinn had to smile here. This was going to be almost too easy.

"Sure you do. I'm sure watching Sam and Rachel gets annoying after awhile" Quinn said, watching closely for Finn's reaction.

And it was a good one. Finn spat his eggs out over the table and tried to wipe his face hurriedly, embarrassed at his sudden over reaction.

"But Sam and Rachel aren't dating" Finn said looking over at Quinn's smug expression.

"Oh. Honest mistake. If they aren't dating now, they sure will be soon. I mean, look at her, she's practically fawning over him. He's barely even making small talk and she's in stitches."

As if perfectly timed, Rachel let out another loud laugh as Finn turned his head to look again at the source for this humor. Sam appeared to be one the speaking, and no one else at the table was laughing save for a small chuckle from Blaine.

Finn got himself together and looked at Quinn.

"Alright, I know you're trying to make me feel jealous. You know I'm dating Rachel, so what do you want?"

Quinn put on her most innocent expression and threw her hands up.

"Look Finn, it was an honest mistake. I mean, look at the facts. She's sitting over there, with him, not you. She's laughing at his jokes, not yours, and just look at your reaction. It didn't surprise you all that much to think that she would react that way to him. Me mistaking them for a couple is not all that out of the ordinary." Quinn finished with a glance over at the Hufflepuff table.

"You're right"

Quinn turned to Finn because, to be honest, she hadn't thought it would be _this _easy to convince him that Rachel wanted someone else. Sure, she thought it would be easy, but not this easy.

"She's been hanging out with Sam more ever since school started a week ago and I know she said it's because of the whole Kurt and Blaine and detention thing, but she got mad at me again the other day and," Finn paused and looked down at his plate, his hands in his lap. "I don't know. I don't know how to fix it. I thought I was getting jealous for no reason, until you pointed it out. She said there's nothing, but here she is again"

Quinn reached out a hand for one of Finn's under the table. She gave it a light squeeze and a sympathetic expression. "I know. It sucks huh?"

Finn turned to her with a smile and nodded. "Yeah. I just, I don't know what to do."

Quinn smiled at him and turned to glance briefly at Puck, still begging Santana at the Slytherin table before turning back towards Finn.

"Lucky for you, I do."

* * *

"Honestly, I don't know what's got you so upset!" Mike called after Tina, exasperatedly.

Tina continued hurriedly down the stairs, ignoring Mike's comment.

And Mike had to say, he was confused. All he had done was forget about the Quidditch game, and for some reason, Tina was pissed at him for it. Tina didn't even care about Quidditch, yet she was storming down the stairs, away from him. Mike knew that's not what she was really angry about, but to be honest, he had no idea what she _was_ really angry about.

"Come on Tina! Talk to me!" Mike said as his hand landed on her shoulder, pulling her around to face him.

"How could you forget about the big Quidditch game today? Our friends are playing today! It's a big deal!" Tina yelled at him.

Mike moved his arm down to grab her hand and moved his other hand to weave his fingers into her hair.

"Tina. Why won't you just tell me what's really wrong?"

Tina looked up to stare Mike in the eyes. She didn't really know how to describe what was wrong. At least, not without upsetting Mike. The truth was that Artie was making her upset. Not Artie exactly, but her feelings towards him. He was her best friend. Mike was her boyfriend. But sometimes, it was hard to make those distinctions. Tina didn't know why this change was coming to her recently, but she felt more and more like Artie might mean something more.

But Mike was so wonderful. Mike was perfect. Mike was everything to her. And she didn't know why she was having second thoughts. And she didn't know why she felt the need to act out towards Mike. It wasn't his fault. He didn't deserve it. And yet, Tina found herself still mistreating him and yelling for no reason. She knew she had to stop.

"I'm sorry. You're right, I'm not really angry about the dumb game, I'm just, really confused. I don't know how to explain it. But I'll stop yelling at you. Promise."

Mike opened his mouth to protest, to demand that she say what was really wrong, but he stopped himself. Instead, he gave her a light kiss on the nose.

"Okay. Can I ask you for one more thing?" Mike asked.

Tina smiled. "Of course"

"When you do figure it out, tell me. No matter what it is. I won't be mad, I won't be upset, I'll try and help you figure it out. I want to help Tina. Always."

Tina looked at Mike and instantly felt guilty for thinking that she might be more than friends with Artie. So insanely guilty. Mike loved her. And she should love him back. She did love him back. She loved him so much.

"Hey you guys!"

Mike and Tina turned towards the figure at the bottom of the stairs. Artie was giving them a large smile.

"What took you guys so long? Do you want breakfast? We need to get seats for the game, so we should hurry!"

Mike and Tina looked at each other and smiled. They were used to Artie giving them a barrage of questions without waiting for the answers. And they never tired of it.

* * *

"Seriously Puckerman, back off" Santana spat at him. After Quinn had journeyed over to the Gryffindor table, Santana felt less inclined to humor Puck's advances.

"Come _on_ Lopez. Stop being such a prude" Puck said as he lay his hand on her thigh.

Santana glared down at his hand before she grabbed it and threw it off of her suddenly.

"I am serious Noah. Back _off_"

Puck leaned back and frowned at Santana. She never called him Noah. "What the hell is your problem?"

Santana shook her head and started to eat. "Don't you have a game you should be preparing for?"

Puck glared at Santana for a few more seconds. "Yeah, I actually do."

Puck got up and began walking away from the table.

"Good luck loser." Santana said, not looking up from her food.

Puck turned towards Santana and felt something that he hadn't felt towards her in a long time. He had the feeling that something was wrong. He felt sympathy. An emotion that was completely foreign to him.

"I hope you feel better Santana. And I hope whatever is wrong gets right."

Santana looked up at Puck and tried to hold her snarly expression as she said, "You never were great with words Noah."

But in all honesty, it made her feel good to think that _someone_ noticed that she wasn't feeling, right. Something was wrong, and even Puckerman had noticed.

As he left the Great Hall to head towards the field, Santana felt herself getting choked up. She looked at the Hufflepuff table and took a deep breath. Only the sight of Brittany looking so downtrodden could make Santana feel so shitty. But still, maybe this was her chance.

Santana got up from the table and walked towards the Hufflepuff table. She looked at Brittany for a few seconds before Brittany looked up at her.

"Oh. Hi Santana" Brittany said sadly before she continued playing with a plate of uneaten waffles.

"Hey Britt." Santana said as she sat down.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for the game?" Brittany said, smiling only slightly at the fact that Santana had used her special nickname.

"Yeah. I should be" Santana said, keeping her gaze on Brittany.

"Then why aren't you?" Brittany asked.

"Because I want to be here." Santana said slowly, finally breaking her gaze.

Brittany looked at Santana, a slight frown on her face. "But you just said…"

Santana grabbed Brittany's hands and looked into her eyes. "I shouldn't be here Britt, you're right. But I _want_ to be here. I _want_ to be with you Britt, only with you." Santana said with a small smile. "You're my best friend Britt. My very best friend."

Brittany smiled at her. "You're my best friend Santana. My only friend."

Santana smiled and let out a small chuckle, reaching up to wipe away a tear. "Everybody loves you Britt"

"That's true" Brittany said smiling.

Santana looked around and noticed that several of the students were filing out of the Great Hall in order to get ready for the game.

Brittany followed Santana's look at the students beginning to leave the Hall. Santana looked back to Brittany as Brittany said, "We should go grab a seat."

Santana hesitated in replying to Brittany, looking over at the Gryffindor table where Quinn was still sitting with Finn, laughing far too loudly. "Well, you know, it's Slytherin vs. Gryffindor so I might need to sit with…"

But Santana paused as Brittany squeezed Santana's hand and gave her her signature smile.

"…the Slytherins" Santana finished lamely.

"Santana?" Brittany asked, her smile growing broader.

"Yeah Britt?"

"Would it be alright, if for once, you sat with me at a Quidditch game instead?"

Santana smiled at Brittany as she stood up and pulled her friend up beside her.

"Of course" Santana said, surprised that she was finding herself choked up once again.

Brittany reached down and linked her pinkie with Santana's as they walked out of the hall. Santana felt good to once again be reunited with her best friend. She knew they still had a lot to talk about, and a lot to discuss. Santana still needed to figure out how to balance Brittany and her Slytherin friends and Santana knew that she couldn't carry on treating Brittany like she had and letting her friends treat Brittany like they had. Santana loved Brittany. She was her best friend. Her very best friend.

Santana looked over at Brittany, whose gaze was now focused on the immensely high goals and the stands that were slowly filling up with a certain awe. Santana smiled at her and squeezed her pinkie a little tighter making Brittany look over.

"What?" Brittany asked with a curious smile.

"Nothing. You're just adorable." Santana said.

Brittany's smile widened and continued to look around at the stadium.

So maybe now things were going to get better. Santana knew that she had a lot of explaining to do, a lot of things to apologize for, and a lot of sorries to dish out to Brittany. But Santana was willing to do it. For now, they had the game and the time they could spend together. And for Santana, that was enough.

* * *

Blaine took in a deep breath and exhaled. He felt nauseous. He felt nervous. And anxious. And he felt like running away. But he couldn't. He wouldn't.

Instead Blaine looked around the Gryffindor locker room and tried to gather his thoughts. There were a lot of important players on a Quidditch team. People always talked about how many players made up a team. No one person could create a team. But Blaine knew that that only applied to Muggle sports. In Quidditch? The seeker was the most important. You couldn't win without the seeker.

Blaine had to curse himself for being a seeker before every game. He always got nervous, and yet, he still somehow did well. He was the greatest seeker that Hogwarts had seen since Harry Potter. How ironic that they belonged in the same house.

Blaine was pulled out of his thoughts as Professor Longbottom ran into the locker room and shouted "5 minutes! You have 5 minutes until the coin toss!" before exiting the room as suddenly as he entered it.

Blaine took a deep breath again and closed his eyes, lying down on the bench that was stretched in front of the lockers. Some of the other players would pat him on the shoulder occasionally or whisper a word of confidence. He would nod and thank them and altogether not really listen. But then someone else gave his shoulder a squeeze.

"Thanks, I'm feeling fine, we're gonna do great!" Blaine said half-heartedly, not opening his eyes.

"Well you sound convinced" another voice said sarcastically.

Blaine opened his eyes to see Kurt crouched down next to him, his head even with his, giving him a broad smile, his hand still perched on Blaine's shoulder.

"What're you doing here?" Blaine asked with a laugh in his voice.

"Came to wish you luck." Kurt said, his smile remaining unwavered. He paused another second and started speaking again. "I appreciate what you did the other night, by the way. I was really really freaked out…"

"Clearly" Blaine interrupted with a broad grin.

"Anyway…" Kurt continued. "It meant a lot that you didn't make fun of me or tease me like those other guys would have. And thanks for um…" Kurt paused as he swallowed, trying to keep his voice even. "Holding my hand. I was really scared."

Blaine pushed himself up on his side and grinned even more broadly at Kurt. "I didn't mind" he said, surprised at his own confidence in this matter. He wasn't normally so forward.

Kurt laughed at his lame attempt at a joke. "Well, good luck. And I'll be sitting in the stands, cheering you on."

"Promise?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah, I promise." Kurt said with a smile.

"I'm going to hold you to that" Blaine said.

Kurt smiled at Blaine and gave his shoulder a small squeeze as he stood up. "Good luck Blaine. I'll see you after the game, at your victory party in Gryffindor."

"Yeah. If we win."

"Please. You're Blaine Anderson. You're going to win." Kurt said as he walked out of the locker room. Blaine sat up on the bench to wave goodbye to Kurt. Kurt waved back and gave Blaine a wink as he left the room.

Blaine smiled.

* * *

"Hey Rachel!"

Rachel looked up as Sam approached her and she beamed at him, gesturing to one of the empty spots next to her.

"Hey Sam, did you get to wish Blaine luck?"

Sam shook his head and simply said, "I figured the goodbye in the Great Hall was good enough."

"Yeah I suppose" Rachel concurred, looking around trying to find out where her boyfriend had gone off to. He'd been missing all morning, and it was kind of starting to bug her. Instead, Mercedes sat down on the other side of Sam, and distracted Rachel once again.

"Have either of you seen Kurt?" Mercedes questioned both Sam and Rachel. They both shook their heads and Mercedes let out a great huff of air.

"I haven't seen him since we left the Great Hall. I wonder where he went." Mercedes mused more to herself than to anyone else.

Rachel shrugged and continued to look around for Finn. She wasn't really worried, but she was concerned. She and Finn had had some issues lately, and she had the feeling that his disappearance was stemming from that.

Suddenly, Rachel felt a hand grab one of hers resting on her lap. She looked up to see Sam giving her an encouraging smile. She smiled back and merely mouthed a 'thank you' to him. He nodded and leaned back so all three of the students could talk before the game began.

"See? Do you see what I am talking about?" Finn practically shouted as he and Quinn saw Sam place a hand onto Rachel's.

Quinn couldn't help but smile slightly as Finn grew more and more frustrated and she squeezed his arm slightly.

"Yeah. I definitely see. I'm so sorry Finn"

Finn stood there, frustrated, angry, and honestly just confused about what to do. He didn't know how to get Rachel back. He turned and looked at Quinn. She was staring at Rachel and Sam like he was and she looked, well, she looked beautiful.

"You said you knew what to do?" Finn asked. He knew it was dumb to trust Quinn. She was a Slytherin after all. They tended to use people for their own personal gain. And Finn knew that Quinn was no different.

Yet, as she looked up at him she had a sad look in her eyes beyond the confidence that was very prominent. The commentator shouted something about the teams coming out on the field, and Finn followed Quinn's gaze towards Puck. Team Captain and seeker of the Slytherin team. Quinn's mouth pursed a little as she stared at him, and Finn saw her ulterior motive.

"You want to make Puck jealous?" Finn asked, pretty sure he already knew the answer.

Quinn turned towards him suddenly and glared. "And I'm pretty sure you want to make treasure trove over there jealous too. You're losing her to trouty mouth and you know it. Look at her frankenteen. She's _happy_. And that's not you next to her. So do something or do nothing. Doesn't matter to me. You can sit here and lose your woman or you can get her back. And I'm offering a solution to get her back."

Finn was a bit in shock. Quinn was rather straightforward when she needed to be. And she got her point across. Finn was still a little hesitant about the whole making people jealous thing, but Quinn made it sound pretty plausible. It all made sense, and Finn was pretty sure that he could actually make this whole jealousy thing work.

"But I'm dating Rachel. I can't lose her"

"You already _are_ Finn. We're not going to date. We're going to be like her and Sam. We're going to be _besties_"

Finn couldn't help but hear the sarcasm laced in Quinn's voice as she uttered the nickname for what Finn had to assume was best friends.

"Besties? Really?" Finn said with a laugh.

"Shut up" Quinn said, smiling against her better judgment as she gave Finn a light punch in the arm.

Finn smiled even after his laugh had died out and he directed his attention back at the field.

"We can just pretend to be friends. Say we're studying together, sometimes eat together, hang out in each other's common rooms, sit together in class. It may sound innocent enough, but I promise you, even if it takes Puckerman forever to notice, your little hobbit is going to be scared of losing you before you know it. It'll work. Promise"

Finn didn't look at Quinn, but instead he looked at Rachel and Sam, their attention directed at the field now that the teams had started to head out to the center.

"Alright" Finn said with a final sort of tone.

Quinn looked at him and smiled. "Alright."

* * *

"Okay boys. Time to shake hands and Slytherins? You get to call the coin."

Puck smirked across the center at Blaine, who was still standing there, practically shaking. Puck extended his hand and smirked at Puck. Blaine mustered up his last ounce of confidence and shook hands with Puck. Puck squeezed a little too tightly and Blaine winced under the tight grip.

"Mount your brooms!"

Puck got on his broom, watching as Madam Hooch, still ancient as ever, unhooked the box, releasing the snitch and the bludgers. She blew her whistle and threw the quaffle up in the air.

Puck eyes had tried to keep track of the snitch after it was released, but the small thing was just so damn fast. That's why he always lost to Anderson. Blaine was small and fast too, so he was able to find the snitch pretty fast. But Puck? Puck was pretty clumsy on a broom. Truth be told, he was probably more built for a beater. But no one else could do it. He was still the greatest seeker in the school.

Besides Blaine.

Puck cursed at himself as Blaine began to peel off suddenly and speed off in the direction of the Slytherin goals. Blaine had half a field on him, but for some reason, Blaine didn't appear to be pushing his broom too hard. True, Blaine's Nimbus was nothing on Puck's Firebolt, but still. Blaine had always managed to make his the fastest broom on the field. Not even Puck's parents' fortunes could beat Anderson's talent.

But Puck had caught all the way up to Blaine. And there was no sign of the snitch.

"Maybe you should try looking for it on your own Puckerman!" Blaine shouted, laughing, and pulled his broom off to the sharp right, leaving Puck going towards nothing.

Blaine was still laughing as he headed back towards the Gryffindor goals. He felt a little guilty about leading Puck towards nothing, but it was always a good diversion. But Blaine really did need to look for the snitch now.

And it was nowhere to be found. It certainly didn't help that he could catch Kurt cheering alongside Mercedes, Sam, and Rachel. It had really thrown him off-guard when Kurt came to wish him luck. But off-guard in a good heart-jumping, stomach butterflies fluttering sort of way. So Blaine was really beginning to regret not telling Kurt how he felt earlier.

But there were things he needed to do. Find the snitch for instance.

Blaine was looking everywhere, but his eye was off today. Everything was off today. He was infatuated. He couldn't stop looking at Kurt and thinking about talking to Kurt and just thinking about Kurt in general. Kurt, Kurt, Kurt. Blaine's mind was a pretty predictable place.

But suddenly, a blinding pain began to creep onto Blaine's arm. He felt his body spinning and he used his other arm to grab his broom even more tightly than before. As his body spun, he saw one of the Slytherin beaters flying away and laughing as the bludger left Blaine's other side.

Cursing, Blaine began to correct his flight path once again. His left arm hurt like crazy, and he had to assume he'd at least sprained something. It felt broken. But Blaine tried not to be dramatic. He needed to find the snitch. He needed to find the snitch so they could win. Kurt had said he'd win. He needed to win.

Gryffindor always won. But for some reason, Kurt saying he would win made him need to win that much more.

But Puck was on the other end of the field, broom speeding in a single direction.

"Shit!" Blaine shouted as he turned his broom around, taking almost no time to catch up to Puck. But he still couldn't find the snitch. He looked over at Puck, confused.

Puck laughed and shouted, "Got you back Anderson!" before pulling his broom off in another direction.

Blaine cursed, ashamed that he had fallen for the same prank he had just pulled on Puck. He did deserve it though. It was a jerk move.

Still Blaine had been scanning the stadium for what felt like an hour. In reality, Gryffindor had only had time to score twice, same as Slytherin. So it was tied 20-20. And it was up to Blaine and Puck to end this. Well, Blaine. Blaine needed to end this.

He couldn't let Puck win. Not if he could help it.

And then suddenly. There it was. The flint of gold in the blazing sunlight. Right over Kurt's head. Blaine laughed at the irony.

He leaned forward on his broom and felt the speed increase. The wind was flowing in his hair and Blaine could feel the adrenaline surging through his veins once more. The fear and anxiety were gone. Only the desire to win.

Blaine smiled as Kurt's expression turned to one of pure horror as Blaine grazed the tops of the heads of the students sitting in the Gryffindor cheering section.

But his hand was gripping the cool metal of the snitch, and it was amazing. They had won. Blaine yelled out in excitement, and once the Gryffindors realized what had happened, they cheered along.

Blaine flew back out to the center of the field, level with the crowd, about 100 feet off the ground, and cheered even louder, throwing his fist in the air and throwing out some more battle-cries and whoops. But then suddenly Blaine felt a strikingly strong pain in the back of his head and everything was black.

* * *

Sam was used to Blaine getting beat up by the Slytherins. He was used to running for help and avoiding the fights and most of the time, Sam let Blaine fight his own fights. But not anymore. This was horrible. This was just cruel and malicious and just plain unsportsmanlike.

So here it was. The second Blaine had caught the snitch, Puck had grabbed a club from one of the beaters. Sam had assumed he was going to hit a bludger towards Blaine, but instead, Puck just threw the bat at Blaine's head. Normally, Blaine had the reflexes to avoid it. But not when he had just won a big game. He was a little distracted.

The bat had hit him in the back of the head and Blaine had fallen almost 100 feet. McGonagall had stopped him before he hit the ground, but it didn't matter he was out cold.

But back to the present. Sam was done. He was done letting Blaine fight his own battles. Sam was pissed off.

The Slytherin team had landed on the ground, giving each other high fives and clapping Puck on the back. Even though they'd lost, they still considered the game a success. Blaine was being hauled off to Madam Pomfrey's and Sam was storming across the field. Madam Hooch got to Puck before Sam did, and started berating him. By the time Sam reached them Puck's back was to him and Madam Hooch was finishing her speech with a simple "report to detention in my office on Monday".

Sam was close to reaching them and Puck's back was still turned.

"Hey! Puck!" Sam shouted as he reached him.

"What?" Puck asked, annoyed and a little bit aggravated at receiving a detention.

Sam pulled his fist backwards and threw it forward, feeling it collide with Puck's cheek as hard as he could throw it. Puck stumbled back a little bit and grabbed at his cheek, evidently surprised at the sudden action from so called trouty mouth.

But Puck always bounced back quickly. He flung a punch back at Sam, this one colliding with his nose. Blood began to flow from Sam's face and that, if anything, made Sam want to beat Puck up even more.

But Finn had made his way to the field pretty quickly.

"Hey! Stop fighting!" Finn said as he jumped between the two of them. Instead, Finn got a punch to the face from Puck too.

Finn stumbled back, same as Sam, but he recovered quickly. He leapt at Puck and tackled him to the ground, throwing multiple punches. Sam jumped to the ground too, and threw some punches at Puck alongside Finn.

"EVERYONE OFF THE GROUND NOW." All three boys paused and looked up at Madam Hooch glaring down at the three of them. Sam and Finn looked at each other before jumping off of Puck. Puck got up more slowly, wincing at the pain he felt all over his body.

McGonagall walked up behind Madam Hooch and joined her in scolding the boys. "How many more detentions are we going to give out this year?"

* * *

"Well this has been an interesting day." Brittany said leaning against the wall to sit down. Santana was already seated on the ground next to the Slytherin dorm in the dungeon.

"Yeah, well, it's not really out of character for Puck to go all violent on a couple of rainbow-fairies" Santana said, leaning her head against the wall.

"Sam's not gay you know" Brittany said, mimicking Santana's motion and leaning her head against the wall as well.

Santana paused for a second and smiled at Brittany's comment. "Yeah. I know. He's got a crush on you" she said teasingly, poking Brittany on the shoulder lightly.

Brittany rolled her eyes and giggled lightly. "No he doesn't"

"Yes he does! I've noticed him getting closer to you these days we've been apart" Santana said, her voice taking a slower tone as she realized the magnitude of what she just said.

"Well. I had to find some other friends. Once you were gone" Brittany said quietly, looking down as she pulled her knees to her chest.

Santana put her hand on Brittany's arm, draped over the tops of her knees. "I'm so sorry Britt" Santana took a pause. Apologizing wasn't really her thing. But she would do her best. For Brittany. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I just—I feel like I needed their friendship. But I didn't Britt, I only needed you."

Brittany frowned a little bit. "What took you so long to figure that out? You've been dating Puck this entire week and continuously blowing me off. I don't know what took so long I guess. You're my best friend, and this week, you treated me like I didn't even matter."

Santana withdrew her hand and folded her arms across her very large chest. "I know Britt. I already said sorry and I am. You are my best friend and I'm sorry that I treated you like you weren't."

"Okay, but if I matter so much, why are you still hanging out with them and dating" Brittany stopped to make a fake vomit motion, "Puck? I mean he's absolutely vile."

"I'm not dating him Brittany, I'm not. He's just—He's a distraction. And for your information, I turned him down. Several times. I don't want to be with him, I want—"

But Santana's words caught in her throat. She had a lot of emotions that she didn't know how to express. Brittany meant everything to her, and they were best friends. Everytime Santana was with her she felt like a brand new person, like the person that she wanted to be rather than the person that she was. Brittany made her a better person. She made her _want_ to be another person. A better person.

"What's wrong San?" Brittany asked, lifting her arm to place it around Santana's shoulder.

Santana was pulled out of her thoughts, and she gave her a misty smile.

"Nothing Britt. I'm fine" she said with a smile.

Brittany smiled at her and leaned onto her shoulder, sinking her face into the space between Santana's shoulder and neck. Santana smiled at the warmth that Brittany gave her.

"You don't have to talk about it" Brittany said and for once, Santana was glad that someone understood her.

"Thanks Britt" she said, laying her head on Brittany's.

Reluctantly, Brittany pulled her head off of the comfortable place on Santana's shoulder.

"What do you say to a party instead of talking? Feelings don't always make things better"

Santana laughed and stood off of the wall, extending a hand to help Brittany up.

"Sounds great. But the Slytherins aren't going to be partying, they lost the game" she said.

Brittany smiled and reached out to link Santana's pinkie with hers.

"I promise you, every other house is _sure_ to be partying" she said, pulling Santana towards the direction of Gryffindor.

Despite her general dislike for all of the other houses, and the promise she had made to herself to never interact with the students that lived in them, Santana didn't mind going to a Gryffindor party as long as she was able to go with Brittany.

* * *

"This was such a bad idea" Finn said, sitting in the armchair next to the fire in the Gryffindor common room. He was stealing nervous gazes around the room as he watched his fellow students throw around butterbeer and several other treats from Honeydukes. The passageway that Blaine had discovered in their first year had proved to be one of the most useful out of all the secrets they'd learned of Hogwarts.

Quinn rolled her eyes and moved as close to the armchair as she could from her seat on the couch. "Don't worry Finnocence. There are people from other houses in here"

"Not people from Slytherin! We just beat your team into the ground. You don't think it looks a _little_ suspicious that you're here?"

"It's supposed to look suspicious Finn. That's sort of the point." Quinn said, flashing a fake smile at him.

"Oh. Right." Plotting wasn't really Finn's forte. He kind of sucked at it. He'd already forgotten Quinn's purpose in being there. He remember that she was there to make Rachel jealous. Rachel.

Finn looked up and around for Rachel and saw her at the punch bowl with Sam, looking concerned, still, over Blaine's current state. She looked up and saw him staring at her and Finn waved her over. To his dismay, she invited Sam to join them as well.

"Hey Finn, and Quinn?" Rachel said, giving Finn a strange look as she noticed the out of place Slytherin.

"How goes it hobbit?" Quinn asked, laughing and turning to Finn. Finn laughed with her and looked at Rachel who had a confused and slightly hurt expression on her face.

"Hey Rach. It's nice to see you." Finn said.

"Um, yeah. I haven't seen you almost all day. Where were you at the Quidditch game?" Rachel asked, sitting on the arm of Finn's chair as Sam took a place next to Quinn on the couch.

"I watched it with Quinn. Don't worry, I still cheered for Gryffindor" he said, winking at Quinn, milking Rachel's confusion.

"Oh, okay. Well, it would've been nice to see you" Rachel continued, linking her fingers with Finn's resting on the armchair.

"Really? I barely noticed you were gone at all." Finn mused offhandedly. He didn't know why, well, why it felt so good to act this way. He's always played very closely to Rachel's emotions and avoided hurting her feelings as best as he could. But now? He was playing along with Quinn's game. She winked at him from the couch and Finn felt both disgusted and proud of himself. He winked back.

"Blaine's doing all right" Sam said from the far side of Quinn, trying to edge the awkwardness out of the conversation.

"Yeah?" Finn asked as a question.

"Yeah. Madam Pomfrey just said he needs to stay the night. But he'll be okay in the morning." Sam continued.

"We went and saw him with Kurt" Rachel said, smiling at Finn.

"Where is he now?" Quinn asked.

"He's knocked out. Because your boyfriend hit him…" Sam said slowly, wondering if Quinn was really this dense.

"I meant Kurt" Quinn exclaimed rolling her eyes. "Where's Kurt?"

The two Gryffindors and Hufflepuff looked around the crowded common room and found that they actually had no idea where Kurt was.

* * *

Kurt sat next to the hospital bed, looking around the room at all of the empty hospital beds with a sort of secondhand loneliness filling his heart. Madam Pomfrey had told them they had to leave because Blaine needed his rest, but Kurt knew that if he woke up here, all alone in his solitary hospital bed, he'd feel worse than if he got plenty of rest. Kurt had always liked being surrounded by friends. Sleep never took priority over that.

But poor Blaine looked like he might need sleep. The swelling on the back of his head was down, but Blaine still looked exhausted as he laid there. He looked as if he'd been threw a great battle or some sort of horrendous experience. Well, that wasn't too far off the truth, Kurt thought. That dumb, dumb Puckerman. Always the perfect asshole. Always.

Kurt had snuck back into the hospital after Madam Pomfrey had kicked them out. And now he was sitting there next to Blaine and he felt, well, he felt everything. All of those lovey-dovey emotions he'd felt in the Forbidden Forest were returning as he watched Blaine's constricted expression in his sleep. He looked so terribly worried and sad and frustrated and Kurt hated it. Blaine's arm was resting on the top of the covers, and Kurt gave into his sudden urge to grab Blaine's hand.

He sat there for a few more minutes, which turned into a lot more minutes, which fed into an hour or more. And before it Kurt could feel himself dozing off. He laid his head on Blaine's chest, rising and falling slowly, and it felt like a great comfort. Kurt's breathing slowly became synced in time with Blaine's. He found all of his thoughts slowly drifting away as sleep over took him.

"Kurt?"

Kurt jerked his head up and looked to his right at Blaine's opening eyes.

"You're awake!" Kurt exclaimed, taking his hand not linked with Blaine's to wipe the hair off of his forehead. "How do you feel?"

Blaine smiled at the warmth of Kurt's hand in his and he replied with a slightly sarcastic, if not humorous response. "Awesome."

Kurt laughed and brought his hand down from his forehead to grab Blaine's hand with both of his. "We were all really worried."

"Oh? Were you now?"

"Yes, we were" Kurt said, still smiling.

"Well, I'm going to be alright" Blaine said, bringing his free hand up to rub the back of his head. "Ouch."

"Yeah. Puck hit you with a bat" Kurt said, with a slight twinge at the thought of it.

"Figures." Blaine said with a slight shrug.

"Blaine?"

"Yeah?" Blaine continued, leaning his head back again and closing his eyes.

Kurt paused before he asked the question he had been wanting to ask. The question he had wanted answered since after his detention yesterday. The question that had risen after Blaine almost confessed something. Kurt didn't know what Blaine wanted to tell him outside of Hagrid's hut. But he had been wondering. It had been bothering him ever since they had gone back to their respective houses.

But he wanted the answer. He wanted to know what Blaine wanted to tell him. What Kurt was hoping he was going to hear.

"What were you going to tell me outside of Hagrid's?" Kurt asked Blaine, his hand still entwined in his.

Blaine smiled even though his eyes were still closed.

"Ah. The big question huh?" Blaine asked, sort of mockingly.

"Yeah. I've kind of been wondering."

Blaine laughed and opened his eyes, pulling himself up to sit upright on the bed.

"I guess I thought it was kind of obvious" he said, keeping his broad grin on his face.

"Did you now?" Kurt said, a little frustrated at this cat and mouse game of trying to worm the answer out of Blaine. "Can't you just tell—"

But Kurt was interrupted as Blaine, now sitting fully upright leaned forward, with his free hand, grabbed the side of Kurt's face and pulled him in for a kiss. Kurt was thrown off as he felt Blaine's lips suddenly crash onto his, but he had to say he was most pleasantly surprised. As he finally got used to the fact that Blaine was kissing him, Kurt began to kiss him back, taking one of his hands that had been holding Blaine's and bringing it up to intertwine with Blaine's hair.

And as suddenly as it had started, it was over and Kurt felt Blaine leaning back onto his bed once again.

"I think showing you was a better solution don't you?" Blaine said with a smirk.

"You don't say?" Kurt said with a smile.

"Oh, but I do" Blaine said grabbing the back of Kurt's head and leaning in once again.

* * *

_Next time on the Wizarding World of New Directions:_

_Kurt and Blaine face new problems and new issues with their… relationship?_

_Finn and Quinn cause more trouble than they intended to with their mutual agreement._

_Rachel finds herself seeking the help of Sam in solving her relationship problems, as well as the help of someone unexpected._

_Brittany and Santana revel in their rekindled friendship, but also address their issues. _

_Mike and Tina face their first real roadbump in their relationship. _


End file.
